


Green

by peacensafety



Series: Memphis [2]
Category: Big Bang (Band)
Genre: Memphis, Multi, Southern Gothic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-05
Updated: 2013-04-27
Packaged: 2017-12-07 13:09:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 30,839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/748855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peacensafety/pseuds/peacensafety
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Seunghyun finds out what it means to be alone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Setting up for the Christmas season was never easy, but at the Kwon mansion it was required the Saturday after Thanksgiving. 

Taemin and Onew brought in greenery from the outside, and Seunghyun hung it around the house in much the same way that his mother had. Jiyong and his father decorated the tree with help from Dongwook this year, and Mr. Choi sat in a chair and directed them, sipping on Jack and Coke that Jiyong kept refilled. 

Taemin handed Seunghyun a sprig of mistletoe with a look of mischief on his face. Seunghyun smiled his thanks and then hung the mistletoe in the most obvious place he could find, a doorway that everyone had to walk through. It would make for an interesting Christmas, if nothing else.

The house was reeking of evergreen by the time they were finished hanging everything up, but it had been transformed into a red and green and gold wonderland. Dongwook had made everyone cinnamon hot chocolate, (Jiyong’s was drenched in marshmallow goodness) and they sat around sipping their drinks in front of the large white marble fireplace next to the tree. 

Mr. Kwon and Mr. Choi played checkers, and Taemin and Onew rolled around under the tree like puppies, pointing to favorite ornaments and tickling each other. Jiyong had his glasses on as he studied for his classes, and Dongwook was working on a book, using research from the most haunted houses in Memphis.

Seunghyun took a few pictures of them all relaxing, planning to put them in a photo album he was working on. He enjoyed making mementos more and more recently, and had started scrapbooking with the next door neighbor, Mrs. Timberlake. 

The pounding on the front door brought most of the men to the entry way. A small woman with a smaller girl child stood out on the front porch, the mother nervously looking behind her to the front yard of the Kwon mansion. 

“Gwyn?” Mr. Kwon asked, obviously confused.

“Hyunbin,” the woman said, a look of panic in her eye. “Can I come in?” 

“Choi, get the shotgun,” Mr. Kwon called back to Seunghyun’s dad, closing and locking the door behind the woman and the child who was obviously her daughter. They were obviously running from someone, and Mr. Kwon wanted to be prepared.

Mr. Kwon pulled them all back into the formal parlor, where they had set the Christmas tree up. Seunghyun watched as the little girl looked up at the mistletoe, and he blinked a few times, not sure if he had seen the flowers bloom a little fuller or if his eyes were playing tricks on him. He kind of wanted to believe a little bit of the former, but he was distracted by Jiyong’s face when he saw the females walk into the room.

Jiyong’s skin instantly became paler, and a light sweat broke out on his face. He looked nervous and worried, and Seunghyun immediately moved across the room to sit next to him on the couch. Jiyong grabbed at his hand, and Seunghyun was concerned that his lover was shaking. 

Seunghyun caught a few urgently whispered sentences that Mr. Kwon and the woman were passing back and forth, about an abusive husband and fear for the lives of herself and her daughter. He was distracted as the little girl came wandering over to him and Jiyong. She stared up into his face until he felt compelled to pick her up and hold her in his lap, and she immediately touched his right eye with her pointer finger. “Pwetty!” she exclaimed.

Seunghyun stared at the little girl sitting in his lap. Her eyes matched her dress, and they were both the color of spring apples. Her fine light brown hair was curled and wrapped in ribbons the same color, her lips were a tiny little rosebud and her skin was the same color as eggs. She was like spring personified, sitting in his lap.

“Did she just call you pretty?” Jiyong asked, staring at the little girl.

“Mine!” the girl leaned into Seunghyun’s chest. She giggled, and kicked her feet a little.

Her mother looked over at her, and then up at Seunghyun’s face. “She usually hates everyone,” Gwyn said, trying to see what it was about Seunghyun that her daughter delighted in. “Wink, come to mommy,” she told the little girl.

“No, mine,” the little girl stubbornly said, threading her little fingers through Seunghyun’s hair and kissing his cheek. 

Gwyn looked back up at Seunghyun, “Do you mind having her there?” 

“She’s fine,” Seunghyun said, and the imp chortled in delight at the sound of his voice. “Mine!” she repeated.

“She’s not human, hyung,” Jiyong whispered, squeezing Seunghyun’s hand.

“What?”Seunghyun asked, staring at the little girl. She squealed again, pulling on Seunghyun’s ear. He stared at hers for a minute, and then almost dropped her when he saw a small, pointed ear sticking out from her hair. One more look into her eyes and Seunghyun decided he didn’t care what she was, she was his and he was going to protect her. He found himself going over to Mr. Kwon and Gwyn, and they had him signing all of the paperwork after a few whispered words into Mr. Kwon’s ear.

“We’ll finish signing over temporary custody to Seunghyun,” Mr. Kwon was saying, “and you’ll return for the girl next month, right?”

“Just ‘til I get settled,” Gwyn agreed. “I really appreciate y’all helping me out like this.”

“You’ve been a great secretary,” Mr. Kwon said, “it’s the least we could do.” He walked his secretary out of the house, and gave her the keys to one of his cars that was in better working order than her own. She promised to call as soon as she arrived at her destination, and Seunghyun had to carry the child over to her so that they could say good-bye. The little girl refused to let go of Seunghyun.

And Wink, the small not-human-but-not-really-sure-what-she-really-was child joined the Kwon Choi family. It took a matter of hours to clean out the old nursery across the hall from Seunghyun’s and Jiyong’s room, it took only a few minutes to get her fed and ready for bed, but it took almost three hours to convince her to let go of Seunghyun. 

Jiyong sat on the end of their bed while Seunghyun washed his face and brushed his teeth, staring at his lover in frustration. “I can’t believe that dad let a kid come live with us. Are we responsible enough for this? Well, I mean, you are, because you’ve been following me around since I can’t remember when, but I’m going to be her mother…”

Seunghyun tried not to snort the cleansing soap at that comment. “You’re not her mother, she’s going to have two dads. And it will only be for a little while, until her mother can get herself safe and away from her husband.”

Jiyong gave him a look. “I’m going to have to teach her how to dress. You can’t,” Jiyong’s insecurities were coming out. They had conversations about this for months now, how Jiyong wished that he were a woman so that they could get married and be a real family. Seunghyun recognized it instantly and immediately went to reassure his lover.

“Just because you know how to dress doesn’t make you a woman. I don’t want a woman in my bed, I want you,” Seunghyun finished washing his face and then stalked over to his lover, laying him back in the bed. “A woman wouldn’t have this jaw,” he said, kissing the tip of it and licking his way down to the man’s strong neck. “A woman wouldn’t have these shoulders, and these arms. She definitely wouldn’t have this chest,” Seunghyun kissed and licked everything he was talking about, and it made Jiyong completely dizzy. “And if she had this, she wouldn’t be a woman,” Seunghyun said before his mouth slid down Jiyong’s shaft. 

Jiyong’s hips lifted as he threaded his fingers through Seunghyun’s hair. He was so good at this act, and Jiyong had no idea how in the world that he did it. He tried to analyze exactly what Seunghyun was doing to him, but every time the blood left his head with the touch of the older man’s tongue to his cock, and Jiyong couldn’t think anymore. 

He slowly became aware that Seunghyun was fucking him, the waves of lust and love separating him from awareness of his own body, the strong emotions rode him just as much as Seunghyun, who was kissing his lips tenderly. Jiyong felt tears falling from his eyes as he realized how much this man loved him, how it hadn’t changed in the six months that they had been together. 

Jiyong held the back of Seunghyun’s head close and kissed the man, slid lips and tongue against his, licking and nipping the man surging above him. If there was a way that Jiyong could explain to this man exactly what he meant to him, Jiyong couldn’t find it. They were words that hadn’t been invented yet, so Jiyong tried to tell him with his kiss.

When they came, it was perfect and sweet. They kissed a few times before Seunghyun got up to grab a wet washcloth, and then cleaned them up. 

“It gets better every time,” Jiyong said, smiling. 

Seunghyun smiled at him, and leaned over to kiss him on the forehead right as the baby started crying. 

Jiyong frowned in the direction of her room. “Isn’t she old enough to sleep through the night?”

Seunghyun already had his slippers and his robe on and he shuffled across the hall right as the baby stopped crying. He thought he heard his mother singing a lullaby in the room, but when he opened the door all he saw was the little girl with tears staining her cheeks, reaching out for him.

“M-m-mine,” she whined flapping her hands towards him.

He couldn’t resist, and he leaned over to pick her up. “Shh, baby girl, it’s okay, Seunghyun has you,” he reassured her.

“Mine,” the girl repeated, rubbing her snotty face on his robe.

Seunghyun was singing to her when Jiyong came in, smiling at the look on the man’s face. “You’re so adorable with that little girl.”

Seunghyun smiled back, rocking her in the chair. “Why don’t you go to bed? You’ve got your finals in a bit, and you have to get up early for your clerkship with Judge Brisentine…”

“Okay babe. You got it from here?” Jiyong asked Seunghyun.

“I got it. She’ll be back to sleep in no time,” Seunghyun smiled up at Jiyong, who couldn’t resist as he leaned down to kiss the older man’s lips.

No time turned out to be three hours, as the little girl became more interested in smoothing Seunghyun’s hair, twisting his ears and lower lip, poking his eye, rubbing his neck, and doing everything but going to sleep. Seunghyun kept singing to her and rocking her, and she fought sleep with every last breath until she was out. 

Jiyong found Seunghyun the next morning feeding the baby at the kitchen table while Dongwook was cooking everyone else’s food. He hadn’t even realized when Seunghyun had gotten into bed with him, and he hadn’t gotten to wake up with him, either. Jiyong was a little annoyed and jealous of a toddler named Wink, and that embarrassed him so he didn’t say anything.

“What are we going to do with her while we’re at work and Jiyong’s at school?” Dongwook asked.

“You have to work today?” Seunghyun asked, not looking up at the man.

“I have that meeting at the Pink Palace Museum about designing the Haunted History Tour,” Dongwook said.

“I can watch her,” Mr. Choi stated, taking a sip from his beer.

“I’ll take her to work with me,” Seunghyun said, after pausing to see how much alcohol his father was consuming. “We probably shouldn’t trust her to daycare until the papers go through keeping her father away from her.”

“You’re right,” Mr. Kwon said, coming down the back stairs from his bedroom. “Mr. Fidchell has an arrest record with a history of violence. It would be best to keep her with one of us during the day.”

“I’m the most suited to keep her,” Seunghyun said as the baby was repeating ‘Mine,’ and playing with her strained apples. 

Jiyong didn’t like this, but he wasn’t going to argue it. The little girl got to keep Seunghyun all night, and now she was going to get him all day? How was that fair?

Breakfast was a short and grumpy session for Jiyong. He left the house without kissing Seunghyun, not that he would notice, all wrapped up in the new baby like he was. He stalked out to the garage and threw his briefcase in the seat. He knew he was being immature, but he didn’t really care at the moment. He didn’t like competing for Seunghyun’s attention.

He looked at himself in the rearview mirror. Maybe he should dye his hair blonde. 

He was startled at the knock on the window of his car door, and he looked up, feeling guilty, into the eyes of Seunghyun.

“Were you just going to leave without saying goodbye?” Seunghyun asked, his eyes sad and worried.

“I’m sorry, you looked busy…” Jiyong started making excuses, but they were cut off as Seunghyun kissed him. The kiss lasted for a good ten minutes, long and sweet and sloppy, and Jiyong nearly forgot why he was pissed off when it was over.

“I love you babe, have a good day at school. Learn a lot,” Seunghyun winked at him, which stole his breath. 

Seunghyun strapped the baby seat that Gwyn had left in the Charger that Jiyong had given to him for his birthday earlier that month. He loved this car, and it held memories of him and Jiyong that wouldn’t come out of the car seats. 

Wink held onto his ankle while he figured out how to strap the car seat in. She was dressed today in lavender and green, and Seunghyun thought she looked adorable. 

She chatted amiably all the way on his way to the magazine downtown, happy conversing in her own baby language that Seunghyun didn’t understand a word of. 

The office he worked in was right off of Front Street next to the Cotton Museum. It was an old brick building with black iron fixtures, and it smelled musty. He walked into the office with Wink in his arms, and predictably everyone there went nuts at her presence.

“Ohh… she is adorable,” his editor-in-chief, Hyunsuk Yang, exclaimed.

“We have to get pictures of her,” Jaejoong Kim, their style editor decided. “We can fit her in the April edition of our magazine with an Easter basket. 

Yoochun Park, copy editor, smiled, “Can I feed her candy?”

Hyungjoong Kim, Jaejoong’s older brother, main writer, and Seunghyun’s oldest friend out of the bunch, simply pulled her away from Seunghyun. “This little princess is going to come with Uncle Hyungjoong while her daddy puts his things in his office and edits the photos for March’s edition of Southern Cities.” 

Wink started crying, reaching back for Seunghyun, who quickly left so that she wouldn’t have to see him. He went over the photos, making sure the best ones were selected and cropping what he needed to, changing the sizes of the ones left behind and killing bastard space as best he could after the copy editor had changed the layout, again. When Hyungjoong finally came into his office with a tired Wink, Seunghyun had been working for four hours and he hadn’t even realized it.

“How did you get this darling?” Hyungjoong asked.

“Favor from Jiyong’s dad to her mom. We’re just watching her for a little while.” 

“She is sure attached to you, sir. How do you plan on giving her back after a couple of days? Isn’t Jiyong jealous?”

Seunghyun looked at his old friend, confused. “Why would Jiyong get jealous of a little girl?” 

“Jiyong would be jealous of a puppy if it came between him and you. You have to keep a lookout for him, Seunghyun, he’s not going to be happy with her wanting to be with you all the time.”

“It’s only for a couple of days, HJ. Nothing for you to get worried about.”

“Huh,” Hyungjoong said. “You’re not the one that has to comfort Daesung now that you and Jiyong are together. You’d think that you stabbed the boy in the back for as bad as he badmouths you and Jiyong.”

Seunghyun felt bad about that, he hated that Daesung felt so betrayed by his and Jiyong’s relationship. They had been pretty intense about each other since it had started, and their friends had suffered from a severe lack of attention. “As soon as this little one goes back to her mama, I’ll make sure that I have a boy’s night out with all y’all. Will that get his panties out of a twist?”

Hyungjoong have him a reproving glance. “We’re fine without you, your majesty. We just happen to like your cranky ass and we have no idea why. It’d be good for you to get away from Jiyong once in a while, to remember you have other friends. Come to Beale Street with us Friday night, leave the baby with Jiyong. Bring that new friend of yours… Dongwook? He’s pretty hot.”

Seunghyun looked at Hyungjoong, a little surprised. “Wookie? You like Wookie?” 

“Where have you been? Jaejoong and I have been pestering you about bringing him by forever now. I fight with my little brother about who is going to ask this man out every night, and have been for months now,” Hyungjoong glared at his friend. “Don’t tell me I’m poaching on your leftovers…”

“No,” Seunghyun said, a whole new realm of thought opened up to him, “I had no idea.”

“Get your head out of Jiyong’s crotch long enough to realize that there is a whole world changing around you, Seunghyun. Your friends miss you, we want to hit on that fine piece of ass you’ve left gathering dust in that huge house of yours, and we’re not prepared to surrender you to the wiles of Miss Wink here forever. Jiyong isn’t the only person on the planet, and you need to realize that.”

It might be true, Seunghyun thought as he transferred the princess from Hyungjoong’s shoulder to his own. Jiyong might not be the only person on the planet, but he was the only one that Seunghyun wanted to see or even spend time with on a regular basis. Maybe it was time for him to get out, though.


	2. Chapter 2

After work Monday, the rest of the week was a slow and horridly painful fall down the Hill of Bent Nails and Anguish into the River Suck. Jiyong was short of temper, Seunghyun was confused, Wink wouldn’t let anyone sleep, Dongwook was in a horrible deadlock in negotiations with the director of the museum, Mr. Kwon couldn’t find Wink’s mother to find out when she would be back to pick up the girl… but at least Mr. Choi had started having more company while he was drinking. 

Friday morning dawned bright. Obnoxiously bright, in Seunghyun’ opinion. Jiyong had stolen all the covers and was on the far side of the bed, hungover from drinking with Mr. Choi the night before. Seunghyun swung himself out of the bed, not even caring when he saw Jiyong watching him in the mirror. He wasn’t talking to the possessive little bastard, anyway. Except, he should probably let him know what the plans were for tonight, because that would be polite.

“I’m going out with the guys after work tonight.” 

Jiyong sat up in bed. “You are?” 

“Yeah, we probably won’t get home ‘til late,” Seunghyun adjusted the plain black tie on top of the black and white striped shirt that Jiyong had picked out.

“We? You mean you and…” Jiyong pressed for information.

“Wookie is going with us,” Seunghyun said. 

“Wookie? Since when do you call him Wookie? Why is he invited? You don’t want me to go with you?” Jiyong’s voice was starting to get shrill, and it was hurting Seunghyun’s ears.

“It’s just one night, Ji. It’s no big deal…” Seunghyun said a little exacerbated.

“If it’s no big deal, then why aren’t I invited?” 

“It’s just a bunch of my friends from school and work…” 

“So what does that make me?” Jiyong pressed.

“I’m so not dealing with your shit this early in the morning,” Seunghyun growled. He walked across to Wink’s room to wake up the little girl. She was overjoyed to see her ‘Mine,’ and squealed and garbled her morning salutation, reaching for Seunghyun’s hair and ears. 

Jiyong followed him into the nursery, still clad in his pajamas. He switched the clothing that Seunghyun had chosen for Wink for something that matched and looked presentable on the little girl, and then succeeded in changing her diaper and dressing her properly, something Seunghyun had never effectively done. It pissed him off that Jiyong already knew how to take care of the little girl, and it pissed Jiyong off that the little girl so obviously preferred Seunghyun over him. 

“You won’t deal with my shit? What the hell is that supposed to mean? Are you going to take her to work with you again today? Why don’t you take her to Beale Street with you tonight, too?” Jiyong demanded.

“I tell you what,” Seunghyun growled over the cries of the little girl, who was upset about the tone of voice the men were using with each other in her room. “You take care of her, you’re not working and you have no classes today. I’ll be home late.”

Seunghyun marched down the front steps in a funk, trying very hard to keep his face neutral so that the dads and Dongwook wouldn’t know that he was in a funk. 

“Hey, Seunghyun,” Dongwook called from the doorway of the living room.

“Yeah?” he called from the middle of the stairs.

“There’s something I want to show you,” Dongwook said, barely able to hide the laughter in his voice. 

“What’s that, Wookie?” Seunghyun found himself smiling at his college roommate, who could enjoy the strangest things. He wondered what the man had found to cheer him up so much. 

“What do you think this is?” Dongwook said, pointing to the entry way of the door.

Seunghyun should have known, should have remembered what he and Taemin had hung there last Saturday, but by the time he got there, it was too late. Jiyong was standing in the middle of the stairway, holding Wink, just in time for Seunghyun to look up at the doorway, giving time for Dongwook to lay a kiss on his lips inspired by mistletoe.

At any other time, Jiyong would have been understanding or at least not homicidal. Seunghyun grabbed Dongwook’s head in an effort to push the man off his lips, but Dongwook wasn’t giving up this opportunity to molest his former roommate with completely legit reasons. By the time Seunghyun had unattached himself from Dongwook, Jiyong was hitching Wink further up his hip, turning around, and heading back up the stairs. 

The day was completely ruined. Seunghyun banged on Wink’s door, where Jiyong had locked himself in with the little girl. Wink was crying, because it was bringing back flashbacks of her own abusive parents. There was no breakfast because Dongwook felt so guilty he couldn’t bring himself to cook. 

Seunghyun had to leave or he would be too late to work to finish his assignment in time for the magazine to go to print. His car had a flat tire, and it took him twenty minutes to find the electric air pump. There had been an accident on 51, so it had turned into a one way street that took forever to pass through because people in the South had never passed an accident that they didn’t have to stop to see if their cousin was involved or if it was something that they could help out with. It had started raining, which meant that no one knew how to drive magically, and there was another accident almost ten feet behind him.

He was forty-five minutes late when he got to work, but it didn’t matter because everyone else was late too, which meant that by the time work was over it was almost nine o’clock and Beale Street was packed.

Beale Street that night was almost a bust, but it got better around 11. Seunghyun had drunk a few beers, and they sat in Silky O’Sullivan’s Irish Pub, talking loudly and cheering the guitar player on the stage. Some of his friends got up to sing, Jaejoong and Yoochun familiar with the guitar player and having strangely beautiful voices. Their pretty faces were just as welcome as their voices, though, if the girls in the audience had anything to say about it. 

Dongwook had been dropped off by the director of the museum, and he stayed sober as Seunghyun drank and tried to make up with Daesung. Dongwook was relishing the attention that Hyunjoong and Jaejoong kept fighting over. 

At 12:30, everyone was exhausted, a little drunk, and more than ready to get home. Dongwook and Seunghyun walked back up Main St. to the garage that Seunghyun parked his car in, and Dongwook wrestled the keys away from a drunken Seunghyun in order to drive them back to the Kwon Mansion. 

“Do you think he’ll forgive me?” Seunghyun slurred, staring out the window.

“Of course he’s going to forgive you. You’re the great Seunghyun. He never shuts up about you, and he waits like a puppy at the window for you to get home every day. That man is so in love with you everyone in our house is jealous of it,” Dongwook said. 

“We got into a fight before you kissed me this morning, it was like smearing shit in his face,” Seunghyun said, fighting against tears.

“It’s not a big thing, Jiyong knows that you and I aren’t like that. I was just giving him shit and trying to molest you, which you never let me do anyway. I used a little subterfuge there, Jiyong won’t hold it against me.” 

“I could kill you for that, Dongwook, if we weren’t such good friends,” Seunghyun glared at Dongwook, who was uncomfortable under the man’s gaze, but not repentant. 

“C’mon, Hyunnie, it ain’t no thang,” Dongwook repeated himself, locking the doors as they passed through Frayser.

“Wookie,” Seunghyun said, leaning his head on his friend’s shoulder, “You have to tell Ji that you didn’t mean anything by it. You have to convince him that I’m not a bastard.” 

“I’m not lying to your lover for you, dumbass. But I will tell him that I tricked you into kissing me this morning.” 

Seunghyun looked over with a disapproving glance as they pulled onto the road that led to their house. “Fine, I’ll take what I can get.” 

The sound of gunfire immediately put a halt to their argument, and both boys sat forward in the car. Flashes of light radiated from the Kwon Mansion’s front yard, and Dongwook stepped on the gas pedal, speeding towards the sounds of fighting and guns.

Seunghyun was out of the car before it had stopped, and Dongwook wasn’t far behind him. Mr. Choi stood on the front porch with his shotgun aimed at a tall man with long black hair, standing at the bottom of the steps.

“She’s my daughter, gods be damned, and you have no right to keep her from me!” the man bellowed with a faintly Irish accent.

“Sir, I feel you should know that I have called the police, and they are on their way…” Mr. Kwon called out from behind Mr. Choi.

Jiyong stood in the doorway, holding a crying Wink, who had buried her face in his shoulder. 

“You give her to me right now, you Chink assholes!” the man’s Irish accent was getting thicker as he talked. He put a foot on the bottom step to Seunghyun’s home, and Mr. Choi immediately shot the next step. 

Seunghyun could tell that his father was drunk, but it wasn’t preventing him from chambering another bullet in the shotgun he was holding, swaying a little bit. His expertise with firearms, even when he was that drunk, was more than a little intimidating. Seunghyun thought that maybe he should find out why his father was so good at things like that.

“Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to leave,” Seunghyun walked up to the man. 

The man whirled to look at Seunghyun, and he was shocked by how pale blue the man’s eyes were. His features were perfect, and the man would be uncomfortably beautiful if it weren’t for the look of anger that was stamped across his face. “Who the Hell are you? Y’all ninjas?” the man demanded. 

“No, we’re Korean-American,” Dongwook started explaining, but was interrupted by the cries of Wink. 

“Mine!” the baby called, clearly upset that Seunghyun wasn’t coming to her and that there were loud sounds and angry voices. “Mine!” she kept screaming from Jiyong’s arms.

Seunghyun wanted to run to Jiyong’s embrace, to hold the little girl and his lover. First, he had to get past this angry… what was he? He had the same pointy ears as Wink, the same Otherworldy presence as the little girl, and it was clearly not a human. 

“Mine?” the man said, sneering at Seunghyun. He looked the man up and down in a derisive manner, his upper lip curling to reveal sharp white teeth. The air around him got cold, and Seunghyun could see his breath coming out of his mouth. 

The house itself started shaking, and the man looked towards the house, startled. “You can’t protect yourself with a ghost,” he said before he held his hands out to call the snow. And snow came down in layers, fat snow drops, coating the front yard and Seunghyun. Wind came with an eerie whistling, coating Seunghyun’s family in white flakes. 

Dongwook made it up the front steps, to hide behind Mr. Choi, but Seunghyun wasn’t leaving the man on the ground alone. He punched his perfect face with an open fist, which was retarded as a fighting move, but satisfying to watch the man fly backwards into his own snow.

Seunghyun fell on top of the man and punched his chest a few times, and then used his forearm to start choking him. This did not please the man, who flipped over and started pummeling Seunghyun’s face with fists that obviously did not care that Seunghyun’s skull was bruising them. 

Seunghyun brought his leg up to kick the man in the back of the head, a move Mr. Choi had taught him as a young boy, and rolled them over again to keep choking him, but it wasn’t preventing strange words from coming out of his mouth. The language he was speaking sounded sloshy, like there was too much spit in his mouth. 

Police sirens sounded off in the distance, but the man under Seunghyun didn’t care. The two men grappled with each other, and Seunghyun vaguely became aware of Dongwook kicking the man in the sides a few times. He was glad that he wasn’t fighting this thing alone, because the stranger was lasting a lot longer than any of his college or high school fights. 

There was a bright light coming from the man and his snow as he kept saying the words in the funny language. He paused, on top of Seunghyun, and leered down at him. “You have taken away what is most precious to me,” he spat in Seunghyun’s face, “I’m going to return the favor.” 

Police cars pulled up in the front yard, officers piling out of the car just as the stranger said a few last words in that strange language. The light got too bright to see anything, so Seunghyun turned his face away from the man just as there was a flash, and the man and all of his snow were gone. 

The officers tackled Seunghyun to the ground, and Seunghyun had listened to Mr. Kwon enough to know that he should just comply, even though it meant taking a face full of cold dirt. His arms were wrenched from his shoulders as handcuffs were tightened uncomfortably on his wrists, and then his shoulders felt like they were being dislocated as he was pulled up to stand in front of the police officer. 

“Is this the man?” the officer asked, shaking Seunghyun a little bit.

“What?” Mr. Kwon said, searching Seunghyun’s face with a slightly confused look. “I’ve never seen that man before in my life.”

“Me either,” Mr. Choi slurred, “No, the guy who was harassing us had blue eyes. He was a white guy. I’ve never seen this man before.”

Jiyong peered at Seunghyun’s incredulous face. Wink was still in his arms, and she held her hands out to Seunghyun, crying, “Mine, mine, mine.” 

“I don’t know him, either,” Jiyong said, and Seunghyun felt his heart break on top of his confusion. Not being recognized in Jiyong’s eyes was like tasting death. 

“Jiyong, what do you mean you don’t know me?” Seunghyun asked. He felt ill asking the question, like he was going to throw up. 

Jiyong looked at him as if he had never seen him before, grinding Seunghyun’s heart into the dirt. “I have no idea who you are. Do you know Wink? She seems to know you,” he was having problems holding onto the little girl, who was squealing for her ‘Mine,’ and struggling to get out of Jiyong’s arms.

“Look sir, we’re going to have to take you in. Have you been using drugs tonight?” a police officer flashed a bright flashlight in Seunghyun’s eyes.

Seunghyun avoided the light, flinching away from it. “What? Are you arresting me? There was a guy here, and he was threatening Wink and my family…” Seunghyun looked up at his father, who looked back at him as if he had no idea who he was. “Dad?” 

Mr. Choi took a swig of a glass bottle with a black label on it. “I have no idea who you are, youngin’.”

Seunghyun straightened his back. It wasn’t the first time his father had disavowed any knowledge of him when he was in trouble, but it was an important time. He turned back to Mr. Kwon and Jiyong, who looked at him with perplexity written across their faces. 

“Look, the little girl obviously knows you,” Mr. Kwon said, “but I don’t think that it’s safe to hand her over to you until you figure out who you are. Maybe you should go home tonight, sir.” 

“Dongwook, Wookie,” Seunghyun called to the man standing on the yard close to him, “Tell them who I am. Tell them I am home.” 

“Look, I don’t know who you are, either,” Dongwook frowned at him.

Seunghyun felt helpless as he stared at his former roommate and best friend. 

The officer was talking quietly with Mr. Kwon, who kept glancing over at Seunghyun. 

The other officer filled out some reports, and one by one they left, leaving Seunghyun feeling helpless and incredibly alone. He stared at Jiyong holding the little girl he considered to be his, who was screaming for him now. Jiyong’s eyes kept nervously glancing back at him, standing in the front yard. 

“Mr. Kwon has decided not to press charges for your trespassing, as he thinks that you are obviously ill. Perhaps it’s time for you to go home?” the last remaining officer told him.

Seunghyun realized that there was no chance in Hell of convincing the officer or anyone on his front porch that he was home. It killed him, but he turned and walked back to his car, leaving his heart, his home, his safety. He looked up to see his mother’s image in his bedroom window as he opened the door to his car, and glanced back at Jiyong one last time before he got into the car.

He drove back towards Memphis, not knowing where else to go. He called Hyunjoong up on his cell phone, and he was still up and drinking. “Can I crash tonight, man?” he asked, fighting back tears.

“Did you and Ji get into a fight that quickly?” Hyunjoong asked, sounding a little pissed.

“Something like that. You’re never going to believe what happened to me when I got home today.” 

“Why does the weird shit always happen to you? Sure man, my couch is clean. If Dongwook is with you, he’s going to have to sleep in my bed…” Hyunjoong stopped talking when he heard a sob escape his friend's throat. “C’mon over man, we’ll have the beer lined up. Just get over here; we’ll take care of you.”


	3. Chapter 3

“There’s always an answer to every question,” Jaejoong said, pulling Seunghyun along the cobbled intersection of South Main and G. E. Patterson. It was a section of town that not many went to anymore since the train station had been shut down, but Jaejoong pulled him up in front of a two story building that was old and kind of looked like it was falling apart. The windows looked like there was fog coating the inside, and across the old board hanging outside the window cheerful lettering naming the place as Ernestine & Hazel’s announced where they were. 

Jaejoong pulled Seunghyun into the bar that everyone in Memphis knew was an old whorehouse. The man behind the counter looked up and greeted them, and with the discernment of bartenders everywhere immediately served the two men beers when they sat at a booth. He offered Seunghyun a cigarette, which Seunghyun took with gratefulness. “What’s the trouble, boys?” 

Seunghyun almost cried, “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” 

“I think that you might be surprised what I might believe. What can I help you with?” the old white man looked a little crazy, but he seemed to know things.

Before Seunghyun could answer, the jukebox* clicked on. Santana’s cover of Black Magic Woman started playing. Seunghyun and Jaejoong stared at each other, surprised.

“Ah,” the old man said, delighted with his jukebox. “My ghosts always know how to read a man. Sometimes women, too, but they do delight in telling me what’s wrong with the pretty boys. You got a magic problem?”

“Yeah,” Seunghyun said, a little surprised. 

“You’re in luck! We’ve got us a VooDoo priestess here today…” 

“You got to be announcing to everyone that I’m here, then?” the woman was older, with black freckles on her dark skin. Her hair hung in thick ropes down her slender back. She was dressed all in white, and had she been a few years younger Jaejoong would have been flirting with her. 

“Aren’t you a pretty one, cher?” she looked at Jaejoong, who smiled back at her, utterly charmed. She looked over to Seunghyun, who stared unabashedly. 

“You’re the one who needs a fix for some magic? Tell me what happened,” she looked at him. 

Another man slid into the booth next to Seunghyun, who stared at his long black braid and his copper skin. He wore a single feather in his ear, and it was the closest Seunghyun had ever been to a Native American in his whole life, although he felt that was wrong somehow. He smelled like sage, and his presence was comforting. Seunghyun found himself spilling the tale of his family not remembering him, making the strange woman nod and frown a little. 

“Ah, a forgetfulness spell. It’s fairy magic, of course, but you’ll need to gather a few herbs and burn them in a special place inside your home. Let’s see, I’ll need to make you a gris-gris and fill it with Cat’s Claw…” 

“Woman,” the man sitting next to Seunghyun interrupted. “Why do you have to make things so blasted difficult? This boy doesn’t need to go scouring about the city looking for whatever you put together on a grocery list, he has a more powerful weapon than all of that. You’re just trying to get him to pay you to fix a problem.” 

“Money is important,” the woman insisted. “’Sides, it’s not like you’re raking in a lot… how’re we going to pay our rent if we don’t charge people for our knowledge.” 

Seunghyun grinned at the two bickering, but then he felt guilty because he wasn’t smiling with Jiyong. He laid a couple of twenty dollar bills on the table, and nodded in respect. “I’ll pay you for listening to my story and not thinking I’m crazy.” 

The old Native man smiled at him. “I like you. You should know though, that fairy magic is not the most powerful thing in the world. We humans are more powerful than they, which is obvious by the fact that there are more of us. You have the most powerful weapon against fey magic inside of yourself, Seunghyun Choi. You love your family. Make them remember that they love you, too, and the spell will be broken.” 

Seunghyun stared at the man. “I have to make them remember they love me? That’s it?” 

“Nothing more powerful than love, boy. I figured you’d be old enough to have known that by now.”

Seunghyun ducked his head, ashamed of the tears that threatened to fall. “You mean Jiyong doesn’t remember that he loves me?”

“You have to make him fall in love with you again,” the man said. “You might have an uphill battle if they never loved you in the first place, of course.” 

Seunghyun stared at the old man, and all of his insecurities fell out. What if his family really didn’t love him? What if they just put up with him because his presence had fallen on them when he was born, and what if he had really seduced Jiyong instead of Jiyong loving him of his own free will?

“What tribe are you anyway, boy?” the old Native man asked him.

“What? I'm not from a tribe, I'm Korean-American,” Seunghyun said, startled. 

The old man looked at him for a minute, like he was trying to figure out something. “Of course you are,” he said, and then he was silent.

Seunghyun didn't have time to think about what the old man was saying, because he was wondering what in the world he was going to do to get Jiyong to love him again. How could he, when he didn't even know why Jiyong had fallen in love with him in the first place?

The old man and woman left the table after Seunghyun started sobbing, and the bartender switched the beer for straight Jack. Jaejoong’s presence was replaced by Hyunjoong’s later that afternoon, and then later by Yoochun’s. Seunghyun stayed in the bar almost the entire day, drinking and feeling sorry for himself. 

The weekend passed in an awful hangover, but by Sunday night Seunghyun was feeling more himself, more prepared to fight for his loved ones. He had been through worse in previous years, he decided the last six months were simply a time of shoring up for the battle ahead of him. He had to have a strategy. He wasn’t about to wait another four years for his opportunity with Jiyong, and he had enjoyed living with his dads and Dongwook. He loved his life, and he was going to fight for it as soon as Jiyong got out of his first class, Monday morning.

He waited outside the History building at 11:20am. He had taken off work for this, just two extra hours. He knew that he wasn’t going to make Jiyong fall in love with him immediately; it would take time and patience. 

Jiyong walked out of the building with his arm around Dara, which isn’t what Seunghyun expected. Dara saw Seunghyun and her face lit up. “He’s cute,” she said, walking towards him. “Hey, you got a cigarette?” she asked, batting her long fake eyelashes up at him. 

“You don’t know me, either?” Seunghyun asked. 

Jiyong sighed. “Look man, no one knows who you are. Could you leave us alone, please?” he took off his ball cap, revealing blonde hair that looked really good on him. Seunghyun wanted to run his fingers through it to see how it felt, but he restrained himself. 

“I know I sound like a crazy man, but I promise you I’m not. Let me buy you lunch and we can talk…” Seunghyun started giving the speech that he had rehearsed.

Jiyong cut him off with a glare. “Man, I’m not going anywhere with you…” 

“Let’s eat with him,” Dara smiled. “He is so hot. We could go to the cafeteria in the student union, so it’s not like we’ll be alone with him. Besides, look how skinny he is, I bet I could take him.” She licked her lips, “I wouldn’t mind, taking that is. If you’re interested.” 

Wow, Seunghyun thought, Dara was really forward without her memories of him. Before, she was really shy, and kind of clung to Bom. Was that an effect that he had on her?

“Fine, lunch in the student union, and then you’ll leave me alone?” Jiyong asked, holding Dara closer to him.

Seunghyun didn’t let himself cringe at the way Dara’s curves pressed up against Jiyong, but he knew that she saw him swallow, and by the look in her eye it pleased her for some reason. He followed the two to the cafeteria, and then paid for their lunch of sushi and sweet tea. 

“So, how do you know me?” Jiyong asked.

“If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me,” Seunghyun answered. “We’ve known each other since you were born. I’m your chauffer’s son.” 

Jiyong stared at him. “Why don’t I remember you?” 

“There was a fairy, Wink’s dad, and we pissed him off…” 

“Wink is a fairy?” Jiyong asked. “What in the world are you talking about?” 

“C’mon, it isn’t the weirdest thing that has happened to us,” Seunghyun said. “Remember the ghost? When we went to see the Werewolves? The vampires that attacked us near University of Memphis? When we found out the mayor was a demon? Or that coven of vampires…” 

Jiyong looked at him as if he was confirming to himself that the man in front of him was absolutely insane. Seunghyun felt his heart sinking. “Look, if this is your method of persuading me that we were friends, or that you’re related to Mr. Choi… I gotta say man, you sound like a lunatic.” 

Seunghyun paused, figuring that most people would think that he was insane. “Look, six months ago, I graduated from art school. I came home, and you and Dara were drunk when I picked you up from The Peabody Hotel. I took her home, and I dropped you off in front of your house.” 

Jiyong’s brow was creased. He was trying to remember. 

“You came looking for me on Beale Street the next night. You were scared of the ghost in your room. I spent the night. The next night we went to a party out in the middle of nowhere, and then we went tripping in the Forest at night…” Seunghyun searched Jiyong’s eyes for any flicker of recognition. 

“I remember doing those things, but I don’t remember you being there,” Jiyong admitted.

Seunghyun’s eyes were starting to fill up again, he was starting to feel like he was not going to win this battle. 

“What did we do the next night?” Jiyong asked, obviously confused. 

“We… we made love for the first time,” Seunghyun said.

“Whoa,” Dara said. Her forehead was creased, as if she were remembering something.

“I’m gay?” Jiyong asked, a smirk on his face. “Man, you must not know me, I’ve had a million girlfriends…”

“But no boyfriends. You love me. You’ve always loved me,” Seunghyun said, urging him to remember.

“Look dude, no offense, but I’m not into that,” Jiyong tried to not laugh. 

“You confessed when you were fifteen years old, we had our first kiss. You don’t remember?” Seunghyun pleaded, trying not to panic. 

“Man, I don’t know what’s wrong with you, but none of this ever happened. I think they call what you have schizophrenia…” Jiyong started to say.

“No,” Dara said, looking at Jiyong, “I don’t think that he’s lying. I feel like I remember some of what he’s talking about. He feels really familiar, and his story sounds like a book that I’ve read before…”

Jiyong looked at Dara, and then back at Seunghyun. “Tell me why I’m in love with you.” 

Seunghyun paused, “I really have no idea. I could never figure out what you saw in me. I can tell you why I love you, though.” 

Jiyong nodded. “Okay. That’ll work.”

“Your mind is so quick. You see everything and nothing all at the same time. You used to follow me around, you thought I was the coolest person in the world. You have great taste in clothing, and you have little patience for people who don’t. When you kiss me, the world falls away. You’re so beautiful it hurts to look at you. You’re great in bed, which is good because you’re always talking me into it,” Seunghyun glanced at Dara, who seemed to be more interested in this aspect than Jiyong, “you’re always willing to learn new things, and you pick them up more quickly than anyone I have ever seen before. You suck at math and science. You make up funny little tunes all the time. You used to want to be a rock star, but I think I killed that ambition and I’ll always regret it. Judge Brisentine said that you were the smartest clerk she ever had working for her. You can figure out when someone is lying, and you are really good at discovering if someone is bad just by watching them for a few minutes…”

“He really knows you,” Dara said, a little awed. 

“Yeah, but does he know me because his story is true, or because he’s been stalking me? The physical stuff isn’t nearly as important as the mental and emotional stuff that he’s been talking about,” Jiyong said, staring at him. 

“You can see ghosts, and you’re terrified of my mother’s ghost because she has a tendency to harm you…” Seunghyun continued. 

Jiyong looked around the cafeteria. “You don’t have to say that so loud. And that ghost is your mother?” 

Seunghyun nodded. “Has she been back since I haven’t been there?” 

“Yeah, man, and she’s freakin’ scary,” Jiyong said, sipping at his sweet tea.

“She hasn’t hurt you at all, has she?” Seunghyun asked, panicking.

“No, I keep Wink with me at night and that little girl seems to scare her off,” Jiyong said, and then looked upset that he shared that information.

“Good, then. It’s good you’re safe,” Seunghyun said, feeling like one of the burdens had been lifted from his chest. “Brother Gabriel can come back, if you need him to, to fix…”

“Who’s Brother Gabriel?” Jiyong asked. 

“You don’t remember Yongbae?” Seunghyun asked, surprised. “I thought I was the only one that the spell would make you forget…” he was distracted, as Jiyong bit his lower lip.

He did that sometimes, when they were making love or Seunghyun touched a good part. It always distracted him when Jiyong did it in public, and Jiyong had started doing it just to drive Seunghyun nuts. It was hard to distract himself from the overtly sensual move, so he blinked a few times. He wanted to be able to touch Jiyong again, and if he didn’t pull himself out of his own lust then it was highly probable that he wouldn’t be able to ever again. Jiyong would run away, scared by Seunghyun. 

“Yongbae went to school with me. He did most of the exorcisms on our… your house,” Seunghyun took a deep drink of the sweet tea. 

Jiyong studied him. “Dara, give us a few minutes, will you?” 

Dara looked between him and Seunghyun a few times before she nodded. “I guess you don’t need a body guard anymore, huh?” she winked before she walked off.

“Tell me about us. Tell me about when we had sex,” Jiyong said. “I was on top, right?”

Seunghyun smiled at him. “We don’t talk about sex,” he said mischievously. “We just do it.” He studied Jiyong’s face, noticed that the other man smiled, and leaned in. Seduction was something that he could do, and he knew all of Jiyong’s buttons. He lowered the pitch of his voice so that it sounded like it was dripping with chocolate and whiskey. “We fuck each other so hard it makes the Earth weep with envy. Our lovemaking makes angels jealous. I can get you off so many times in so many different ways that you sleep for days afterwards, trying to just remember how to breathe,” 

Seunghyun reached with trembling fingers to tuck a lock of hair, silky and cool and golden, behind one of Jiyong’s ears before he moved closer to whisper in the other one, his breath warm against the cool shell, “the way I suck your dick has you moaning like a whore. Your wrap your fingers through my hair and scream my name, and when you come I drink every drop as if it were ambrosia and it makes me feel like a god.” 

He glanced quickly down at Jiyong’s crotch, and was satisfied when he saw the effect his words were having on the other man. “I can’t wait to see you in my bed again, begging me to love you, rubbing your cock against mine. Do you want to know who tops? Why don’t you come to bed with me and find out?” 

Jiyong’s breathing wasn’t so good after that. He looked into Seunghyun’s eyes, admiring how they were so dark it almost looked like they were blue at the edges and the shape of them. The man was beautiful, Jiyong had to admit. It felt like there was something at the back of his mind that he needed to remember, and maybe this man was telling him the truth about them being together. His body screamed at him to take him up on his offer, but he wasn’t sure that it was wise. Something else, something scary, was telling him that this man would take something from him that he could never get back. He wasn’t sure if he was ready to give up that part of himself, even to someone as pretty as Seunghyun… who might be crazy. How was he to know?

Jiyong eventually realized that breathing was an essential part of living, and he sucked in a lungful of air. With it came the spice of Seunghyun, and it was so familiar to him that he felt like crying. Their faces were so close together that he could count the individual lashes surrounding those eyes that were so beautiful, so intense on his own. “How do I know you’re telling the truth?” he begged for an answer.

“At some point, you’re going to have to make a decision on if you want to believe me or not, Ji. I can make you happy, I’ve done it before. I’ll win you again, and again, and again, just for the sheer pleasure of watching you fall for me. You have to know deep inside of you that I love you, Jiyong Kwon. I’ll do anything you want to prove that to you,” Seunghyun said, running a finger on the edge of Jiyong’s ear. He leaned back in his chair so that he wouldn’t be tempted to touch him any further. Jiyong would let him now, but he would run later. Seunghyun wasn’t about to ruin their later with his impatience.

“Let me think about it,” Jiyong said, as Seunghyun knew he would. He scooted the chair back quickly, shocked at himself. 

“Take your time, my love,” Seunghyun smiled. He handed him his business card, “Here, in case you need to get in touch with me.” 

Jiyong took the card and left the cafeteria as quickly as he could. Seunghyun watched him leave, and prayed that he had done the right thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *The jukebox at Ernestine and Hazel’s is said to honestly be haunted. The women who used to work in the upstairs supposedly haunt the place, and they take a special liking to sad love stories, especially women who are celebrating their divorces. Ernestine and Hazel’s is a wonderful bar, so if you ever come to Memphis please go and visit there, and the proprietor will tell you some wonderful bone-chilling ghost stories.


	4. Chapter 4

Seunghyun was moving into a hotel room when he got the call from Jiyong. He was expecting it, just not the very night he had gone to see him at school.

“Hey,” Jiyong said, a little breathless. 

“Hey you,” Seunghyun said, fixing his headset as he hung up the two new suits of clothing that he had purchased. It had been time for him to get new clothing anyway, but he had wished that Jiyong was there to pick it out with him. He always saw subtle things in how the cloth draped that made him look just that much better, but the saleslady at the store assured him that the pants on these particular suits made his ass look great. 

“I wanted to talk more, about your idea that we used to be lovers,” Jiyong said. 

“You wanted to have phone sex?” Seunghyun asked, smirking at his reflection in the mirror.

“Yes, I mean no, I mean… I don’t even know. I felt sick without the sound of your voice, for some reason.” 

“Because you love me,” Seunghyun told him, slipping into a new pair of pajamas. “You always hated being separated from me. We just had a fight about it Friday morning.” 

“We did? I don’t like the idea of fighting with you,” Jiyong said. Seunghyun imagined him laying back in the big bed that they used to share, all alone. 

“We fight, lover. We hadn’t had a fight that bad since we got together. It’s what makes this all worse,” Seunghyun sat on his own bed, and then lay on his side, imagining that he was talking with Jiyong. 

Jiyong was, in fact, laying on his bed. He leaned over and inhaled the scent on the sheets, thinking that it might be Seunghyun’s scent that lingered on the pillow case and sheets. He had just gotten Wink to go to sleep. The little girl was depressed and reminded him of a wilting flower, kind of like the chrysanthemums that were spread throughout the house to encourage the holiday spirit. Jiyong stared at the one that was resting on the mantelpiece in his bedroom. He had watered it this morning to encourage it to perk up a little, but the flower continued to wilt, anyway. 

“God, I miss you, and I haven’t even been away from you for three whole days,” Seunghyun said in his ear. He sounded so sad that Jiyong’s instincts urged him to comfort him immediately.

“Where are you staying?” Jiyong found himself asking. 

“There’s a pretty affordable hotel off of Sycamore View Road that I found. Kind of generic, but it’ll do until y’all let me back in the house,” Seunghyun said into the phone.

“Are you terribly lonely?” Jiyong asked. He didn’t know where the question came from, but he had to know if Seunghyun was suffering for some reason unknown to him.

“Yes. I’ve been living with a family for the past six months, and before that I had Dongwook around me for four long years. It’s the first time I’ve ever spent the night by myself.”

Jiyong was silent for a minute. “Where have you been staying until now?”

“My friends, the Kim brothers. Jaejoong and Hyunjoong. They let me crash on their sofa, but you know what Mark Twain said, ‘Fish and houseguests…’”

“’Smell after three days,’” Jiyong finished the quote with him. He heard Seunghyun smiling on the phone with him. “I remember the Kim brothers,” Jiyong said.

“You remember Jae and Hyunjoong? How is that fair?” Seunghyun demanded. “Do you remember Daesung and Yoochun, too?” 

“Not Daesung, but I remember Yoochun,” Jiyong said, pulling the covers back so that he could crawl into them. 

“Hm. I guess that you hung out with the three of them with me enough times that you would remember them, while Daesung has always just kind of been my friend. That’s interesting.” 

“I called my best friend today to talk about you,” Jiyong said. “Seungri said that I haven’t been hanging out with him as much because I’ve constantly been around you, so if you’re crazy, he is too.” 

Seunghyun felt a huge relief at hearing that. “I wonder why Dara doesn’t remember me and Seungri does?” 

“I think that the people who care about our family, our entire family, are the only ones who are effected,” Jiyong answered. 

“So you believe me? Can I come home?” Seunghyun asked, excited.

“I don’t know you. I don’t know how to respond to that,” Jiyong answered. “Give me time, and I’ll tell you what I can do.” Jiyong was quiet for a few minutes. “If this is a magic spell, how do we break it. Do I have to kiss the handsome prince?” 

“Metaphorically,” Seunghyun agreed. “I have to make you fall in love with me again,” Seunghyun stretched out on the bed, happy as a cat with that prospect.

“I can’t believe that I can’t remember you. I can’t believe that I would be in love with someone and then completely forget everything about them. My love should be stronger than that.” 

Seunghyun was quiet for a minute. “Maybe it wasn’t. Maybe I pushed you into the relationship,” his voice was steady, but his heart was not. It was his biggest fear, that he had pressured the adolescent Jiyong into something that he didn’t want, a hard path that he didn’t have to take, and that Jiyong as an adult didn’t know how to say no to someone that he had admired as a youth. “Maybe I should just let you go.”

Jiyong heard anguish in Seunghyun’s voice at that. He wanted to comfort this man, this virtual stranger, but he didn’t know if he could trust him. “Let me talk with you a few times before you make that decision. Besides, if I truly loved someone, I would do anything it took to make that person love me back. I want someone to fight for me like that, too,” Jiyong confessed. “Even if it meant cheating or lying to me or stealing or killing someone, I want someone to love me that intensely, that completely.”

“I don’t know if that’s healthy, lover,” Seunghyun said, cringing when he called Jiyong something he might not be prepared for. He heard the catch in Jiyong’s breath, though, and it made him start to get a little hard. He tried to fight against that, but he missed his lover too much. 

“I’m not really thinking about healthy right now,” Jiyong confessed. “I’m being honest with you.” 

“Good,” Seunghyun said. “It will make things easier.”

“So…” Jiyong said.

“So…” Seunghyun agreed, laughing a little.

“I’m really gay for you, huh?” Jiyong asked.

“You’re really gay for me,” Seunghyun agreed. “I’m really gay for you, too, if it makes you feel better.”

“It does. It kind of turns me on that a guy who looks and sounds like you would want…” 

“Oh, I want.” Seunghyun reassured him. “I want even more now that I’ve licked and stroked and fucked every delectable inch of your body.”

Jiyong didn’t say anything for a minute. “I’ve never done this before,” he confessed. 

“You have,” Seunghyun reassured him. “But I am more than willing to wait if you’re not ready.” 

“Tell me what I have to do,” Jiyong insisted.

“Take your clothes off,” Seunghyun almost whispered into the phone.

Jiyong only paused for an instant before his adventurous spirit took over. He stripped, and then smiled at himself at his reflection in the mirrored doors of his closet. He jumped back in the bed under the covers, trying to get warm.

“I want you to reach down and touch your nipples. Pinch them a little, just so they get a little hard. This is when I used to lick them, and you would squirm a little. You’d press your cock into my chest while I played with your nipples and licked them. You liked that, and then you would pull me up for a kiss and I would have to make my way back down your neck. I’d pause at your ears, they’re so sensitive,” Seunghyun said, his voice low and sexy.

Jiyong felt overwhelmed, imagining this man in his bed, intent on pleasing him only. He had a feeling that it would be marvelous, that this man would utterly consume him.

“I would reach down and stroke our cocks together a little, I liked the way that they felt rubbing against each other in my hand. You would moan, and if I was doing it right, you would moan loudly, just a little high pitched, breathless in my ear.”

Jiyong gasped for breath, his hand stroking his cock. He looked around and spied some hand lotion on the table next to him, and squirted the lemon scent into his hand before he reached back down, stroking his cock with Seunghyun’s voice in his ear. “I love your voice,” Jiyong whispered into the phone.

Seunghyun smiled, stroking himself while he spoke breathlessly to Jiyong. “Are you hard, my little dragon?” 

“Oh God, Seunghyun,” was his only reply.

“When I lick the tip of your dick, I can tell how turned on you are just by taste now. When you’re really excited, that shallow little pool is filled with precum, but if I haven’t done my job right I usually go down and I gently suck on your balls, I take each one in my mouth and then lick your sack, and I lick my way all up your shaft to see if it did the trick. If I have, I bite your thigh a little ‘cause it turns me on so much to watch you squirm because of something that I did.” 

Jiyong made kind of a muffled wet gasp, almost embarrassing with his lack of vocal skills when the man on the other end of the phone was verbally fucking him. 

“Put one of your fingers on the outside of your hole, Ji. Just touch around the edges, don’t slide it in yet,” Seunghyun said, his voice getting darker.

Jiyong couldn’t do anything but obey. The sensations from that area flared, and his back arched. He peeked at himself in the mirror, and he couldn’t recognize his face, he was so turned on. At this point, it turned him on to see himself turned on. This was past embarrassment. He frantically was pumping his shaft with his fist, the lotion making a squishing sound as his hand went up and down. He briefly wondered if he was going to last much longer.

“Now slide your finger up to the first knuckle, but no further. This would be about the time that I slide my mouth around your cock. I usually have to hold your hips down because your body can’t hold still at this point, and all you’re trying to do is fuck my mouth. I let you for a little while, I love it when you can’t control yourself with me. Then I gently suck you, sliding up and down your shaft. God, Jiyong, you have such a great dick.” 

Jiyong was moaning at this point, trying to hold on so he could hear more of Seunghyun’s descriptions. He was going nuts though, and his release vibrated in his sack, “Oh God, I’m going to…” 

“Not yet,” Seunghyun demanded. “Put your finger in the rest of the way.”

When he did, Jiyong felt a funny little bump inside of him. He touched it, and lost his mind, but didn’t come quite yet. “Ughhhh…” he said.

“Good boy. You are so sexy, just keep making noises like that and it’s all I need to come,” Seunghyun encouraged. “Right about now I’d wrap my own hand around your cock, which would be soaked by my spit. I’d slide it up and down with my mouth, so that it would feel like I was deep throating you.”

“God, I’m coming,” Jiyong said, losing it. His body tensed, and he came in four long spurts, hitting his chest and stomach, leaving him breathless, laying back on sheets that faintly smelled like Seunghyun, making him aware of how alone he was in his huge bedroom, on his huge bed. He started crying, and the phone picked up the sounds.

Seunghyun was instantly distracted from his own impending climax with the sound of one sob from Jiyong. “Baby, don’t cry. You know I can’t handle that. I’ll get in the car right now and…” 

“No,” Jiyong whispered. “I can’t… not right now. I’m too open, too…”

Seunghyun was crying too, “Let me fix it, whatever you’re crying about, let me fight it off for you…”

“This isn’t something… there’s too much…” Jiyong took a deep breath. 

Seunghyun was quiet for a moment, trying to let Jiyong get a handle on himself. It hurt him to know that Jiyong was hurt and confused, and he silently cursed himself for letting this phone call go as far as it did, this early. He knew Jiyong would run at that moment, would fly away as quickly as he humanly could unless he found the right words to say. 

“I love you,” Seunghyun said. He didn’t know if it was right, he just knew that he had to tell the man how he was feeling. “I will wait for you as long as you need me. If you need to run right now, I’ll understand. Just know that I’ll still be here when you want to come back.” 

Jiyong hung up the phone. 

Seunghyun cursed himself. What in the world was he thinking? Jiyong wasn’t ever going to come back now, nothing he could say or do would make that possible. That fucking fairy had ruined his fucking life, taken everything from him. And Seunghyun took his one chance to get it back and instead of using it wisely, had fucked it. How in the world could be so stupid?

The hotel sheets smelled of bleach, and Seunghyun’s tears soaked them through. What was he going to do without Jiyong in his life? Why was this happening to him? Because a little girl wanted him more than her own father? Was this a fair punishment? 

Work the next day was exhausting. All he had to do was photograph some sites around Memphis, but none of his shots were inspired and he knew that he was going to have to do everything all over again. He stared at the classic homes in Victorian Village, and wondered which ghost stories Dongwook would tell him, which ghosts Jiyong would see in them. He wondered if he would have to put his arm around Jiyong to make him braver as they walked through the old street. 

He went to Beale Street after work, but no one was sitting outside The New Daisy Theatre, so he got in his car and went to Midtown. No one was walking the streets there, either, so his last stop was the college district over on Highland. There were college kids and a fraternity party (they were celebrating the fact that one of them had found enough silverware for the entire Frat House or some such nonsense) but he didn’t even feel like drinking with any of them. 

He went back to his apartment. He stared at the television, but he had no idea what he was watching. He thought about calling his friends, but he didn’t feel like moving. His existence was coming to a gradual and final halt, and he couldn’t even move to prevent it from happening. 

He watched his phone ring five times before he picked it up. “Hello?” he asked. 

“Seunghyun?” Seungri’s voice came from the other end.

“V?” Seunghyun called him by a stupid nickname that he got in high school, when he had led his basketball team to All-State. It was also kind of making fun of his name, which in Korean meant ‘Victory.’

“Dude, can you get to the mansion with a quickness? All manner a' Hell is breaking lose over here, and none of the jokers here know what to do. Skrait?” 

Seunghyun tried not to cringe at the use of bad English from this kid. “I’m skrait,” he repeated, “Be there in twenty.” Skrait was often used in Memphis, derived from the word ‘straight,’ meaning, ‘I understand.’ 

Seunghyun threw himself into the Charger and slammed his foot on the gas. He took the backroads all the way out to the Forest, slowed down in the places that were well known as speed traps, and made it to the house in twenty minutes exactly. He got out just as Seungri pulled a bleeding Mr. Choi from the house, and deposited him in the front yard with an unconscious Taemin and a fussing Onew. 

“Where’s Jiyong? What’s going on?” Seunghyun asked. 

“Jiyong is up in the nursery with that child from Hell. Mr. Kwon has barricaded himself in his office, but he can’t get out and he’s been screaming for thirty minutes. I have no idea where Dongwook is,” Seungri looked up at the house, wiping sweat off his brow in the warm December air. 

Seunghyun charged into the house, where a whirlwind of junk greeted him and then died down as soon as he entered the room. He walked through the house, and it was as if chaos ended the moment he entered a room, dying down with his presence. Seungri cussed a little as he watched it happen, impressed and irritated that it was so easy for him. Mr. Kwon came out of his study, his face and forearms a bloody mess. Seungri took him to the kitchen to fix his wounds, but Seunghyun ran up the steps to the nursery. 

Wink was screaming in anger, and Seunghyun wrenched the door open to see Jiyong covering the baby girl with his body, which had been cut with broken glass and splintered wood. Seunghyun picked both Jiyong and the baby up and carried them downstairs, holding them to himself as tightly as he could. 

Wink cried in relief as soon as she saw him, “Mine!” she screamed as he held the two of them against his chest. Jiyong buried his face in Seunghyun’s shoulder, holding the man tightly about the neck, squishing the baby girl between them. She didn’t seem to mind at all, as her Mine was there to take care of everything. 

Mr. Kwon and Mr. Choi, who had both made it to the kitchen, stared at the boys in interest. Onew had Taemin in his arms, and he carried the lanky boy into the kitchen, too. 

“It’s over then?” Onew asked. 

Mr. Kwon nodded, staring at Seunghyun. “Apparently, it’s over. The house doesn’t seem to like living without this boy.”


	5. Chapter 5

Seunghyun’s hands were sweaty as he gripped the steering wheel. Jiyong sat right next to him, and even though he was uncomfortable and awkward around him he was still sexy as all get out. It wasn’t that he was wearing anything special, and his back was bandaged from the attack of the house (Seunghyun refrained from playing nurse while applying the bandages, but it had taken reserves of self control he hadn’t even know that he had), but Seunghyun still found him the sexiest man alive.

Wink happily babbled from the back seat, thrilled that her Mine was taking her places again. She hadn’t learned any new words since Seunghyun had been gone, and she continued to talk in her baby language about everything that she was experiencing. Seunghyun still found her to be the cutest little girl that he had ever seen.

Mr. Kwon and Mr. Choi had encouraged him to move into the room next to Wink’s, to see if they could get the house to not act up anymore. Seunghyun had readily agreed, and then said that he was going to go back to the hotel to get his things. Jiyong immediately said that he wanted to go with him, and they put Wink in the seat behind them, but then Jiyong hadn’t said anything else as they were driving.

“Why did you want to come with me?” Seunghyun finally asked. 

“If there’s something to what you’ve been saying, the more time I spend with you the quicker I’ll get my memory back. All I have to do is fall in love with you and the spell will be broken, right?” Jiyong asked.

“That’s what I was told. I don’t know if it’s real, but I’m willing to try it,” Seunghyun said, smiling a little at Jiyong.

Jiyong stared at his smile, and then rubbed his arms. “That gives me goose flesh,” he said. Seunghyun was almost hurt by this, but then Jiyong touched the side of his own neck. “It makes me want to kiss you, it’s too cute.” 

The hotel room would have taken them less than fifteen minutes to clean out, but with Wink helping it actually took them about thirty-five minutes. She wanted to touch everything and turn all the faucets on and roll around on the bed, and then explain what she had just done to Seunghyun in detail. 

“What would we have been doing now, if I hadn’t lost my memories?” Jiyong asked.

“Well, I’m not sure. We never had a child before,” Seunghyun pulled the television remote out of the baby’s mouth and wiped the drool from it. “If it was just you and me in the hotel room, I’d probably be making you moan right now.” 

Jiyong swallowed, and Seunghyun took a little bit of pleasure from that movement. “So we were pretty physical?” 

“We go through phases. We’ll be incredibly physical, and then there are days when we just don’t have enough time to say everything that we want to say to each other. Sometimes,” Seunghyun picked Wink up, and she happily latched onto his neck and made little cooing noises at him, “we just sit together in silence, or you’ll work on your school work and I’ll edit photos…”

“You said we experienced a lot of… supernatural stuff? Like what the house was doing today?” 

Seunghyun carried the last bag out to his car and threw it in the trunk with Jiyong trailing behind. “Yeah, mostly though we just go and watch. It’s not like we physically fight anything… except that one time with the vampires… but you weren’t fighting. You were hiding behind a dumpster next to Sun Records downtown…”

“You save me a lot, huh?” Jiyong asked, sliding into his side of the car while Seunghyun put Wink back into her car seat. 

“Yeah. It’s probably why you’re so fearless, why you want to go investigate everything up close all the time. You know I’m right behind you,” Seunghyun said, taking his sunglasses off since the sun had gone down sufficiently. “You want to go out to eat tonight, just you and me and the kid?”

Jiyong nodded, and then texted his dad quickly. “Let’s go. We have a lot to talk about.”

Seunghyun drove his family across 240, exiting and parking outside of Corky’s BarBeQue on Poplar. The wait in line was about twenty minutes, but he knew that Jiyong was partial to their ribs. 

The wait staff did a few double takes of the Asian boys with the pale baby girl, but soon all the waitresses were helping and flirting with the boys. Jiyong flirted back with them while Seunghyun smiled indulgently, and soon everyone was making a mess with their Memphis style barbeque. At least they were all wearing bibs, Seunghyun observed with a wry smile. 

“When did you first realize you were in love with me?” Jiyong asked, sucking the meat off of a rib. His lips puckered while he was doing it, and Seunghyun forced himself to stare at his sandwich. 

“You were twelve, I was fourteen,” Seunghyun said, blushing a little. “You had the worst growing pains while you were going through puberty. I would sit and tell you stories and rub the pain out of your knees. You would pout and cry. I realized that I wanted to take care of all of your pain, forever.” 

Jiyong paused with a rib halfway to his mouth. “That long ago, and you still remember?” 

Seunghyun blushed but stared at Wink, who was currently painting her hand with barbecue sauce. He gave her another small piece of meat, which she immediately started gnawing on happily. “I remember a lot of things. I’m pretty smart that way.” 

“Oh yeah? How smart is a photographer, anyway?”

Seunghyun looked up to see why he was asking, but he remembered that Jiyong had a huge respect for intellect. “I was first in my class. They used to call me TOP.”

Jiyong snickered a little, and then realized that Seunghyun was telling the truth. “For real?”

Seunghyun prevented Wink from upending her cup of milk, and she made faces at him while he wiped her milk mustache. “I probably wouldn’t have bothered trying if you hadn’t made such a big deal out of me bringing home straight A’s all the time. My parents didn’t care that much.”

“Yeah right, your parents were Rose and Eddie, like they weren’t going to flip out every time you brought home a B…”

“I did, once. You made such a fuss because it was in gym class. My parents didn’t even notice… “

“When did you know that I loved you?” Jiyong asked, curious.

Seunghyun recounted the tale of them by the lake, a hot summer day and naked sunbathing, a surprise kiss that melted like ice cubes. Jiyong was surprised that he had initiated the kiss, but after thinking about it decided that he wasn’t all that surprised. 

“You said I had been in love with you for a while before that?” he asked.

“That’s what you told me. I don’t know why you were in love with me, I guess I always kind of thought that you would always be in love with me because I loved you so much, so I never bothered to find out why. I wish that I had now, even though we talked so much about everything I feel like we skipped a number of steps getting together.”

Jiyong smiled at Seunghyun, but this time he was looking at the older man fondly. “I can see us rushing to get together. I know I’m not patient, and I can’t imagine that you are very much, either.”

“I am with everything else,” Seunghyun said as he signed the check.

“So, TOP…” Jiyong said.

“Yeah?” Seunghyun asked, looking up at him.

“Just seeing if it felt familiar.” Jiyong smiled at him.

“You called me Hyunnie,” he told him as he picked a sloppy Wink up from the small mess she had created in the chair. “Remind me that barbeque with babies is a bad idea.”

Jiyong giggled, “You almost sounded like a rapper with all that alliteration.”

“I used to rap for you,” Seunghyun said, smiling.

“Wow, really? Can you still?”

“Of course, I’m number one, remember?” Seunghyun smiled as they walked their way out to the parking lot. 

Seunghyun beat boxed for Jiyong a little as they were driving home, and then he rapped in English and Korean. He told Jiyong that the younger man used to write songs when they were growing up, and force Seunghyun to sing with him even though he was not as confident of his singing abilities. They sang in the car a little together, and Wink in the back seat chimed in the best she could, even though she didn’t know the song and couldn’t carry a tune yet. 

Jiyong seemed pleased that he could remember all the songs that Seunghyun was talking about. When they got home, he helped Seunghyun carry his things up to the room they had set aside for him. Wink toddled around after them as they moved throughout the house, and then was surprised to find all of Seunghyun’s clothing to the side of his own closet. He helped him move them to the new room, although he seemed relunctant to move them out of his closet. Seunghyun didn’t push, he was too afraid of making moves on Jiyong too early. 

Dongwook came into the room while the other two and Wink were cleaning it up. He stared at Seunghyun for a while, before he said, “You know, I kind of almost remember living with you.”

Seunghyun looked up, surprised. “Really?”

“Yeah,” Dongwook said with an evil glint in his eye. “I remember daydreaming about your ass. You’ve got a really great one, you know.”

Jiyong’s shoulder’s immediately stiffened as he looked at the boy who lived in the room next to him. 

Dongwook continued to leer at Seunghyun’s ass for a few minutes, “So tell me,” he said, a cat-like smile spreading across his ridiculously full lips, “If you can’t make Jiyong fall in love with you, you want to give me a chance? ‘Cause… I already know that I could teach you a few things…”

Seunghyun rolled his eyes. “God, you lose your memory and you’re still exactly the same.”

“You mean I was like this before?” Dongwook asked, surprised. He sat on Seunghyun’s bed, making himself comfortable.

“You used to try to tempt me with pretty girls first,” Seunghyun said, shutting one of the dresser drawers that held his pajamas. “You tried getting me drunk, you’ve tried feeding me acid, you’ve tried all sorts of things.”

Jiyong’s spine could have gotten straighter, but it wasn’t probable that it could without some sort of permanent nerve damage.

“Well, I was smart then. What else did I do, and could you make it a little sexier when you’re telling me about it? Give me some good details,” Dongwook said, leaning back on Seunghyun’s bed like he belonged there. Jiyong did not like that at all. 

Seunghyun glanced over at Jiyong, who looked uncertain and off balance. “Give me a minute,” Seunghyun said, picking Wink up and walking through the door that connected her room and his. He put her in her crib with a toy, and she played happily with it as he walked back in the room, cracking the door a little. 

Seunghyun wasn’t entirely comfortable with what he was about to do, but he remembered Jiyong telling him that he liked watching him with one of his ex-girlfriends, and it had made him jealous enough that he had moved on him the first time. He wondered if he was doing the right thing, but reminded himself that ‘All is fair in love and war.’

He sat on the bed, close to Dongwook. He looked deep into his eyes, and was pleased when he saw those lips part slightly, trying to get more oxygen. Dongwook’s eyes dilated slightly as Seunghyun leaned in closer. “This one time,” he said softly, “I came home after turning in one of my finals. You had jello shots lined up on our coffee table, and we spent the first part of the evening eating about twenty of them, each. We were sipping some sort of drink that you had mixed when these girls came to our apartment. I was pretty drunk, but I can remember you making out with one of them, and then they started making out with each other. You had lost your shirt somewhere, and I was simply sitting on the couch, watching you. It was fucking sexy, just watching, but I wasn’t about to touch.”

Dongwook swallowed, too entranced by what Seunghyun was saying to make any sort of movement. As far as he was concerned, he and Seunghyun were the only ones in the room.

Jiyong was happy just staring at these two gorgeous men getting close to each other. He could tell how turned on Dongwook was by watching how often he surreptitiously tried to lick his lips, and how full his pants were getting at the front. Jiyong leaned back against the wall watching the man who claimed to be his lover seducing another man, trying to breathe.

“You moved over close to me, and leaned back against my chest. You seemed really surprised at the muscles there because you kept taking covert little touches, and I pretended to not know what you were doing. The girls sat at the other end of the couch, but one of them straddled you as you were leaning against me. I watched her dry hump you and you reached up and took her shirt off so that you could touch her breasts. The girl behind her kept kissing her, and the girl on top of you stuck her hand down the other girl’s pants.” Seunghyun kept eye contact with Dongwook, and moved a little closer, tilting his head as if he were angling for a kiss, but keeping a slight distance between them.

Jiyong gasped a little, the thought of these two men together like that turning him on. 

“I kept drinking whatever you had mixed that night, watching them and you, and then one of the girls pulled your pants off. I watched her wrap you up nice and tight with a condom, and then she slid her pussy on your dick right afterwards. The other girl leaned forward to kiss you, and both of them were completely ignoring that I was there at all, which was okay with me.”

Dongwook was gasping for breath, listening to the sound of Seunghyun’s voice describing what was going on. 

“And then you looked up at me, and you wrapped your hand around my neck, and you gently pulled my face towards your lips…”

Jiyong stuck his hand in his pocket to touch himself slightly, and then quickly pulled it out. He couldn’t… in front of these men…

“And then I left you and the girls and went back to my room,” Seunghyun said. “I started on my next final.”

“Oh God,” Dongwook said, rolling over on his stomach on Seunghyun’s bed. He punched it a few times, and then dry humped the bed three times before he stood up. “God man, you are evil. Fuck. Fucking fuck, dude.”

Seunghyun smiled at Dongwook, and then looked over at Jiyong, who was visibly aroused by the story he just told Dongwook. Seunghyun leaned back on his elbows on his new bed, and gave Jiyong a look of invitation. 

Dongwook looked at Jiyong, frozen at his spot on the wall. “Dude, if you don’t jump this man’s bones soon, I am so stealing him from you. Keep that in mind.”

“W-where are you going tonight, Dongwook?” Jiyong asked, noting the man’s outfit.

Dongwook smiled. “Jaejoong asked me to come over tonight and fuck his brains out. After that story… how in the world can I not? Unless, you’re willing to share this man,” Dongwook could not hide the hopeful look on his face.

Jiyong looked at Seunghyun. While he wasn’t sure he wanted to take him up on the invitation, he knew that he didn’t want anyone else to. “Go out with Jaejoong,” he said, in way of an answer.

Dongwook chuckled to himself, fixing the collar and cuffs on his shirt in front of the mirror in Seunghyun’s room before heading out of the room. 

Seunghyun and Jiyong were left alone in the room, and Jiyong felt instantly nervous about how aroused he had gotten at this man’s story, and that this man had seen it, and that he was still aroused. He wasn’t a coward though, so he came over and sat on the bed next to this man.

Seunghyun said nothing as he watched the shorter man get comfortable on the bed with him. They stared at each other for a few minutes without saying a word. Jiyong reached out to touch Seunghyun’s face, intent on feeling if his skin felt as smooth as it looked. Seunghyun’s eyes closed in anticipation; his head tilting back to allow the younger man access to him.

Jiyong jumped back as if he had been snake bit. He wasn’t ready for the pure sensuality that this man possessed. He wasn’t even sure if he liked this guy, but he knew that his sex drive could easily be controlled by him. Seunghyun didn’t say a word as Jiyong left the room quickly. He moaned and then rolled onto his belly on the bed, much as Dongwook had just done. 

Jiyong sat on his own bed, after angrily stripping off his shirt and pants. He masturbated to take the edge off, bringing himself to release quickly. Twice. He leaned back on his bed, hoping that things would be better in the morning. 

When he woke up in the middle of the night, his breath came out in ice crystals. He moaned, knowing that if he looked too hard, he would see something that no one else could see. Avoiding it didn’t seem to matter, as his eyes instantly made contact with a pale white Asian woman, sitting on the floor next to his bed, staring at him with such anger in her eyes that Jiyong knew he was in danger.

He opened his mouth to scream, but no sound came out. He gasped for breath, choking and crying, wishing that Seunghyun was with him, hoping that Seunghyun would somehow know that he was in danger.

Finally, finally, his voice came back and he screamed, screamed so hard it hurt his throat, hurt his chest, hurt his head. He was so terrified that it took him almost a full minute to realize that Seunghyun was there, Seunghyun’s arms were wrapped around him in warm comfort, Seunghyun’s low voice was in his ear whispering, “It’s alright baby, it’s okay. I got you, I’m here now. Everything’s going to be okay.”


	6. Chapter 6

Jiyong woke up from a deep sleep, feeling content and warm and safe. He opened his eyes, and he stared into a muscular chest, a sleep shirt unbuttoned and hanging off one broad shoulder. He looked up to see a smooth chin, thin but delightfully curved lips, a small and shapely nose, and long eyelashes from closed eyelids. He resisted the urge to lick that chin, and instead leaned back to stare at his would-be lover. 

If only he could remember. Was what they had worth fighting for? How would he know if Seunghyun was really looking out for his best interest, or what if he was the one that caused all the memory loss?

Jiyong was certain that something was going on, there were too many pieces missing for there to be a logical explanation. 

He leaned up to kiss Seunghyun. He was surprised that he was turned on from simply looking at the man, because before he had never been attracted to one… or so he thought. He paused right before he got to the man’s lips, because Seunghyun’s eyes popped open. Jiyong froze like a deer in the headlights, staring up at the man.

“If I knew you were going to molest me, I’d have kept my eyes shut, dear heart,” Seunghyun drawled in a thick Southern accent, made sexier by the deep timbre of his voice.

Jiyong pulled back. “Thank you for sleeping with me last night.” Politeness and meekness, strangers on Jiyong’s tongue, Seunghyun thought. 

Seunghyun smiled, and then folded his long body out of Jiyong’s bed. It wasn’t something that Jiyong wanted to see, but he didn’t say anything to make the older man stay there. He wanted to pout as he saw the man button up his sleep shirt, but he controlled himself. Barely.

“I’ve got to go to work, and you’ve got school. We should get up. Is Dongwook still making everyone breakfast?” 

Jiyong nodded, rubbing the back of his straight blond hair. He watched as Seunghyun silently left his bedroom, saddened by the awkwardness that passed between them that morning. The older man had been more than wonderful. 

School and work passed slowly for both men, who were fully intent on getting back together so that they could figure out what was going on between them. Seunghyun almost ran out of the office before Hyunjoong stopped him. 

“I know how to win him,” Hyunjoong said, grabbing Seunghyun’s wrist.

“What?” Seunghyun asked, trying to figure out what his friend was trying to say.

“Do you trust me?” Hyunjoong asked.

Seunghyun studied his oldest friend in the world, and nodded his head. 

He was coming home an hour late, but Seunghyun was more than happy to do so as Hyunjoong really had one of the best ideas. It was so simple, Seunghyun had no idea why he hadn’t thought of it in the first place. 

When he drove up to the house, he was so excited that he almost didn’t notice the car sitting in their driveway. He stared at it for a few minutes, trying to decide how it got there and who’s car it was. It was a pricey Lexus, but Seunghyun shrugged it off as one of Mr. Kwon’s clients.

He carefully pulled out the basket that he had prepared and straightened the green ribbon on it. There were little dragon charms that Hyunjoong had found and couldn’t resist buying for Jiyong, and Jaejoong had attached them with hot glue and a perfectionist’s eye. 

Seunghyun hefted the slight weight into his right hand as he opened the front door with his left, calling for Jiyong as he opened the door. He stepped into the parlor, where Jiyong usually studied, and was surprised to see Jiyong on the couch with another man.

The man was stroking Jiyong’s hand, and the two were speaking quietly together. Seunghyun froze when he saw Wink’s father whispering to Jiyong as if they were lovers, and his heart iced inside of his chest. “What are you doing here?” Seunghyun hissed. 

Jiyong looked up at Seunghyun, confusion written all over his face. “This man says that he is my lover, and that you cast a spell to keep us apart.” 

Seunghyun’s mind could not work fast enough. He almost dropped the basket he had prepared for Jiyong as he stared in shock. “Well, that’s a lie,” he said simply. 

“That’s his best defense?” the blue eyed man smirked at Seunghyun. “That’s the best that you could come up with?”

“The house likes me better,” Seunghyun said simply.

“You cast a spell so that it would deactivate as soon as you stepped into a room. A simple trick,” the wizard said. 

“Jiyong remembers me already,” Seunghyun tried to argue.

“Of course he doesn’t. You stole him from me, what does he have to remember of you?” the man flicked his long black hair over his shoulder.

Seunghyun fought against the urge to fall to his knees. “Look, I don’t know why you want to hurt me. I did nothing to you except punch you a few times. Can you give him his memories back, please? He’s everything to me. You can do anything you want to me, but taking someone’s memories is worse than anything that I can think of. You’ve stolen a part of my love that I can’t fix. Please let him be himself again,” Seunghyun pleaded with the madman, not willing to simply throw around blame and try to defend himself.

“How pretty he speaks,” the man said from the couch, but now Jiyong was looking at him with the same confused expression. “He thinks that you’ll fall for him instead of me…”

The line might have worked if Wink hadn’t toddled in at that point. She saw her father sitting on the couch next to Jiyong, and then ran, screaming and crying to Seunghyun. Her father couldn’t hide the look on his face when he saw that, and his lie was discovered quickly. He quickly vanished from the house, all traces of him gone, and when Seunghyun ran to the window in the room across the hall, his Lexus was gone, too.

He ran back to Jiyong, who was sitting on the couch, looking much less confused and more thoughtful than he had in days. Seunghyun asked, “Are you okay, sweetie?”

Jiyong looked up at his lover, and then smiled with relief. “I figured some things out.” 

They were interrupted by Wink wiggling in Seunghyun’s arms, and the basked hanging off his right arm swinging a little bit.

“What did you bring me?” Jiyong asked, reaching for the little girl so that Seunghyun could show him the basket.

Seunghyun smiled. “You’ve talked about this a lot,” he said, surrendering the little girl. “I don’t know if I did right, but I wanted you to have this,” his face was turning bright red as he opened the lid of the basket. 

A tiny, wrinkled Shar Pei puppy stuck his head out of the basket, his wrinkled little paws bracing himself on the edge as he sniffed the air around him.

Jiyong’s face told a story true love between a man and his dog as soon as he laid eyes on the puppy, and Seunghyun knew that he had made the right decision. He traded the basket for Wink, who gratefully went back to Seunghyun’s arms, and watched in quiet joy as Jiyong pulled the puppy out of the basket and immediately started cuddling with him.

The puppy seemed to think that Jiyong was the best thing ever, and he licked the man everywhere that he could reach. Jiyong spoke in nonsense words to the puppy, his eyes dancing with joy at the sight of the wrinkled thing.

“What’s his name?” Jiyong asked.

“It’s your puppy,” Seunghyun shrugged, straightening the dress that Wink was wearing.

“I’m going to name him… Gaho. After you,” Jiyong said, making Seunghyun pause. He looked down at Jiyong, who was grinning at him. “You’re my guardian angel, after all.”

Seunghyun blushed, which caused Jiyong to laugh in delight. He paused as he remembered a flash of sunlight on a pond, and a younger and very naked Seunghyun laying next to him. “Oh my God,” Jiyong exclaimed. “I remember… I remember something about a lake…”

Seunghyun stared at him, hope in his eyes. He stayed quiet, hoping that it would give Jiyong more time to remember things.

Mr. Kwon walked into the Parlor at that moment, scratching his head. “I just had the strangest memory of Seunghyun,” he said, staring at the taller man. He stared in shock. “I remember you at the hospital when you were born.” 

Seunghyun was shocked by this revelation, but even more shocked when Wink reached up and patted his cheek. “Dada,” she said, beaming at his face.

Seunghyun was shocked, but the two Kwon men laughed. “I guess she thinks that you’re her father,” Mr. Kwon said, shaking his head. “I should probably tell her mother that she’s getting attached, but I can’t get a hold of the woman. I’m about to report the child as being abandoned and send her to a foster home…”

“No,” Seunghyun said, pulling the child tighter into his chest. “I don’t care what else happens; she can’t go to a foster home. She’ll stay with me until her mother comes to get her, even if she and I have to move out,” Seunghyun said, a little shocked by how quickly he had attached to this child.

Mr. Kwon seemed to be shocked, also. His attention was distracted when Gaho waddled over to him and peed on his foot. 

Jiyong jumped up and ran to the kitchen to gather some paper towels and cleaning solution, apologizing to his dad and cleaning the mess up. “I guess Gaho has given his opinion of the kid leaving the house, dad.”

Mr. Kwon laughed. “When did we get a dog?”

“Seunghyun bought him for me,” Jiyong said, holding Gaho up by his front paws and sticking his face in the tiny dog's so that his little blue tongue could lick his face. 

Mr. Kwon studied Seunghyun and the little girl, who seemed to be settling into his arms for a nap, calling him her ‘Dada,’ with a small, sleepy voice. He watched the young man looking at his son playing with his new dog, and was struck by the tenderness in the taller man’s face. Whatever else be true, this man cared about his son. 

“Well, it looks like maybe I ought to call Judge Brisentine and start seeing about temporary custody for you, Seunghyun,” Mr. Kwon said.

“I’d appreciate that, sir,” Seunghyun nodded, shifting the little girl ever so slightly in his arms.

Seunghyun got up so that he could carry the little girl up to her bedroom, and Jiyong and Gaho followed up the stairs. “I’ll take you to PetCo tomorrow so that we can go pet shopping,” Seunghyun promised Jiyong. 

Jiyong was too busy being pleased with the puppy trying to climb up the stairs behind him, and he finally picked up the poor thing and carried him. “Okay,” Jiyong said, completely happy and content with his life at this point.

“Do you think that we should be worried about Wink’s dad coming back?” Seunghyun asked.

“That’s Wink’s dad?” Jiyong asked, making faces at Gaho. 

Seunghyun suffered a brief annoyance. He liked Wink calling him dad. He liked being Wink’s dad, having the little girl look up at him like he was the entire world, her chatter, when she clung to his ankles as he tried to move around. He sighed. “Yup, that’s him. Bastard,” he said, with some heat. 

That man didn’t deserve to be called Wink’s dad. He had basically mind raped Seunghyun’s entire family, beaten Wink’s mom, tried to seduce Seunghyun’s boyfriend, and looked good while doing it. Seunghyun wanted to burn the man alive, when all was said and done. That or shove a grenade up his ass, pull the key, and then walk away to watch it rain little pieces of asshole all around him.

Wink happily got changed into her pajamas, pointing out the newest word she had learned. “Bellybutton!” she exclaimed, pointing at her own bellybutton. 

“Good job,” Seunghyun praised her, kissing her round tummy and then blowing on it to make a loud raspberry sound.

The little girl giggled, clapping above Seunghyun’s head. “Bellybutton! Again, bellybutton!”

Seunghyun made the loud sound on her tummy again. 

“You’re going to wind her up before she falls asleep. She’ll be up for hours…” Jiyong warned.

“You’re going to be up with that puppy,” Seunghyun argued back, but shut up when he saw that the puppy was falling asleep in Jiyong’s arms. Jiyong looked at him with an annoyingly superior look on his face. 

Seunghyun rolled his eyes, and then put the little girl down in her crib. He tucked her in and sang her a soft lullaby, sending her to sleep in minutes. Jiyong stared at him in wonder. “I love your voice.”

Seunghyun looked up at him, surprised. “You’ve never said that before.”

“Really? I must have been a moron,” Jiyong said. “Your voice is amazing.”

Seunghyun blushed, and they crept out of the girl’s room, trying not to wake her. They went to Jiyong’s room, where Seunghyun stood awkwardly until Jiyong motioned for him to sit on his bed. He found Gaho an old pillow to lie on in one of the corners of the room, and then lowered the lights before he went and sat next to Seunghyun.

Jiyong sat in front of Seunghyun, staring at the man closely. Seunghyun tried to hold still, but his lover’s gaze was almost a physical touch. 

“I think that if I kiss you, I’ll be able to remember more,” Jiyong proposed.

Seunghyun looked up, surprised. “Are you ready for that?”

“Honestly? I want to know what you taste like and how you kiss. I really don’t care if I remember anything at all,” Jiyong said. 

Seunghyun smiled, “Okay. Feel free to molest me, if you feel so inclined.”

Jiyong would have smiled at any other point, but his desire was too strong. He fitted his hand around the back of Seunghyun’s head, and pulled him towards his head slowly. Seunghyun tried not to jump him as he fitted those full lips against his own, and then Jiyong’s tongue slowly licked against the inside of Seunghyun’s lips, which he parted eagerly. Their tongues met, slow licks, before they retreated back to their own mouths to take each other’s taste back inside. Jiyong took his time, exploring the recesses of the other’s mouth with frustratingly slow kisses, darting his tongue in and out of Seunghyun’s mouth in waves of sensation. 

Seunghyun’s head felt like he was drunk. He was having problems thinking, and his world narrowed to the mouth that moved against his own. He couldn’t even think of anything else, be aware of anything else, until Jiyong’s hand slid from the back of his head to his shoulder, pushing lightly so that Seunghyun fell against the sheets of Jiyong’s bed with the rustling sound of their clothing shifting between them. 

Jiyong tentatively touched Seunghyun’s shoulders. His hands searched along his arms, measuring the muscle in his bicep, his triceps, and weaving their fingers together for a brief moment. Jiyong squeezed their hands, and then trailed his fingers back up Seunghyun’s arm, all the while kissing the man like they had all the time in the world. 

Jiyong pulled back, staring at Seunghyun in wonder. “Wow,” he said, licking his lips. “I wasn’t expecting that.”

Seunghyun smiled a little, and then pushed himself up on his elbows so that he could touch Jiyong’s hair, and pull the man’s lips back to his own. Jiyong went willingly, and they rolled so that Seunghyun was on top now. Seunghyun touched Jiyong’s ear, causing shivers of arousal to dance down his side. Those long fingers traced mazes down Jiyong’s neck, and then started unbuttoning his shirt.

Jiyong couldn’t stand it. His own buttons were turning him on. 

Seunghyun kissed the side of Jiyong’s neck, and then started tasting every speck of skin he revealed with the buttons. When his nipple was exposed, Seunghyun licked it with the flat of his tongue before he worried it with his teeth and lips, and Jiyong’s back arched in a precise movement, so much like a dancer, Seunghyun thought with a smile. His little dragon was graceful with almost all of his movements when they were in bed together. It was as if they had choreographed a dance between them that no one else knew the movements to.

Jiyong glanced down to the side of his bed for some reason, and the ghost of Seunghyun’s mother smiled up at him. He shivered for a minute, but Seunghyun felt the break in his concentration, so he stopped. 

Jiyong looked up at him. “Are you sure that you love me?” 

Seunghyun searched Jiyong’s eyes for moments, trying to figure out where the question had stemmed from. He answered honestly as he could, hoping something would convince this amazing man of his devotion. “You need to understand something, Jiyong. I love you more than my own life. If you ever needed anything from me, I would go to the ends of the earth to find it for you. You are my everything, you are the air that I breathe and the shelter that I seek. I am not happy without you, and every day all I wish for is you.”

Jiyong stared at the man, holding himself above him with steady arms. Memories started pouring back into his head, memories of who this man was and more importantly, who this man had made him. Jiyong was not complete without Seunghyun, but the memories that defined him came back so quickly that he started crying, remembering how much this man really loved him and how much Jiyong loved him in return.


	7. Chapter 7

Thursday morning dawned, kind of. There were storm clouds in the air, and it had such a restrictive, awful feel to it almost everyone in the house was cranky. 

Everyone that is, but Jiyong. He floated down the stairs, happy that he had remembered everything. He took each of his memories out of his mind, smiling as he mentally polished them, much like Gollum admiring his ‘Precious.’ 

Mr. Choi and Mr. Kwon sat at the kitchen table while Dongwook made his signature breakfast: eggs and bacon, pancakes, grits, biscuits and gravy, coffee and mimosas. Dongwook’s mimosas were to die for, Seunghyun thought as he drank the champagne and orange juice mixture with satisfaction. 

The dads were staring at Seunghyun in confusion as the man happily shoveled eggs and bacon into his mouth, thrilled that he had gotten to sleep next to Jiyong the night before even if nothing had happened. They had too much to talk about, too much to plan for, and they were so happy that everything was back to normal they didn’t do much more than kissing. He briefly thought that it was strange that they hadn’t had sex, but then Seunghyun figured that all would be fixed that night. He couldn’t wait.

Mr. Kwon looked down at his plate, trying to force himself to eat. “I guess I should probably watch Wink tonight.” 

Seunghyun looked up and saw Jiyong sitting down at the table next to him, stars in his eyes and the devil on his lips. “We’d appreciate that, sir,” Seunghyun said, thinking about all the things he was going to do to the man sitting next to him as soon as work was over.

Mr. Choi drank his black coffee. He wasn’t really happy that his son turned out gay, but he was happy that his son was happy. And, truth be told, the man he raised turned out well, still respecting him as his papa even when he found out that he wasn’t, in fact, his father. Which made him the perfect man for his biological son… Mr. Choi gave up and put some whiskey in his coffee. The relationships in this house were too complicated for him now, and Rose was gone, and he had shot Bora… not all of his memories were good ones. He had loved Bora for a time, but she was going to kill their son, or her husband and his wife’s son… too complicated. He drank his whiskey-laden coffee and kept quiet. 

Mr. Kwon nodded. “I’m sure that there are grandfatherly things that she and I could do. I could show her my bug collection…” Mr. Kwon was relatively certain the toddler would be impressed by that more than by his law books. He scratched his head.

Seunghyun wasn’t listening, he was too busy staring at the drop of mimosa that sat on the curve of Jiyong’s lip. He almost groaned out loud when the tip of Jiyong’s pink tongue darted out to wipe it, but he controlled himself.

Dongwook finally sat down next to Wink, who gave him a wide, toothy grin. She tried to feed him some of her grits on a pink plastic spoon, and Dongwook pretended to eat them, pinching her baby cheek, before turning to Seunghyun. “I can’t believe that I forgot everything.”

“Well, you’re lame like that,” Jiyong said, smiling impishly at Dongwook. 

Dongwook rolled his eyes and slathered jelly on a biscuit. He never liked the gravy on top of his biscuits in the morning, he thought it was too rich. “You just might get locked in a closet one day when Seunghyun’s too drunk to know what’s going on. I’m not threatening you or anything, I’m just saying that it’s possible that it could happen.”

Jiyong stuck his tongue out at Dongwook, who made an equally attractive face back at him. Seunghyun rolled his eyes at their arguments, taking pleasure in the fact that this morning ritual was being performed again. 

Mr. Kwon cleared his throat. “I guess that I should tell y’all I rewrote my will this morning.”

Jiyong frowned up at his father. “Why?”

Mr. Kwon looked a little ashamed. “I know we haven’t really talked about this, but I figured that both of my sons should inherit, and if something like this were to happen again, none of us would be left out in the cold.”

Seunghyun quickly looked down at his plate. Most of the time, they pretended that Jiyong was really Mr. Kwon’s son and Seunghyun was really Mr. Choi’s son, but with everyone’s memory returning they were running high on sentimentality and a strong need to reaffirm their familial bonds. 

Mr. Choi stared at his plate. “Might want to call in to work today, son. I think we need to go visit your mama’s grave.”

“Yes, sir,” Seunghyun said. He was glad that he hadn’t missed any work earlier that week, but he was a little nervous because he needed to get caught up with some photos. 

Mr. Yang was more than willing to let him go for the day. He had been worried about him, and hoped that when he came back on Friday and maybe put some extra hours in on Saturday that he would be refreshed and inspired. 

Jiyong, Dongwook, and Wink rode in the car with Seunghyun while Mr. Choi drove Mr. Kwon in another car behind them. 

Elmwood Cemetery was one of the oldest Victorian cemeteries in Memphis. The men quickly walked to the Asian section, and skipped passed the Chinese and Japanese burial plots to get to their own. Even after death, a large part of the South was still segregated. 

Seunghyun laid flowers on his mother’s grave, and Mr. Choi lit incense, not for any religious significance, simply because it smelled nice and it was comforting. All of the men and Wink bowed their heads and prayed, ignoring some of the tourists who passed by.

“Yakuza?” the men heard one voice say, but they ignored the teenager who said it. 

“Rose, I did so wrong by you,” Seunghyun heard Mr. Kwon whisper in Korean. He was pretty sure that no one else heard. “You should pass on now, though. I’ve got our son protected by the law, he’ll be taken care of in case anything happens to me. Don’t come visit me anymore at night, I think I can live on my own now.”

Seunghyun was surprised that his mother was still visiting Mr. Kwon after her death along with him and Jiyong. Mr. Kwon had always been a quiet man, so it wasn’t all that surprising that he kept this a secret to himself.

Dongwook went back to the house with Mr. Kwon, Mr. Choi, and Wink, leaving Seunghyun and Jiyong together alone at the gravesite. “Your mom really loves us, doesn’t she?” Jiyong asked Seunghyun.

“Yes,” Seunghyun said, looking up at the sky. It looked like it was threatening to rain, but he wanted to spend a few more moments with Jiyong before they left. They kept still while rain drops started falling lightly, trickling from the clouds above. Seunghyun still missed his mother, still wished that he could have been there for the funeral. Things felt so incomplete without her smile and her flowers. 

The sky blackened, and the rain started pouring down in buckets. Jiyong tugged Seunghyun’s hand until they crossed the paved path to the mausoleum across from the Asian section to the black section of the cemetary. The mausoleum was Robert R. Church’s gravesite, the freed slave turned millionaire that had bailed Memphis out of bankruptcy after an epidemic of Yellow Fever. They stood under its shelter, shoulder to shoulder, while Seunghyun tried to get himself under control. Jiyong briefly considered the irony that even after death, Church was still sheltering his fellow Memphians.

He glanced at Seunghyun, startled that the man seemed to be trying to control himself. Jiyong knew his lover was feeling some large emotion, and if he pushed for it Seunghyun would never give it to him. It was one of the aspects of the man that he couldn’t stand, especially as he was so impatient. He forced himself to lean up against the mausoleum while they waited for the rain to slow enough to make a run for the car. 

“It was a nightmare, Ji, when y’all forgot me. I never felt so alone before, so without hope. I felt like I had no reason to live if you and my family didn’t even know me, much less love me. I wanted to die,” Seunghyun slowly said, tears falling down his cheeks. He didn’t sob as he was crying, the emotions simply leaked out of his eyes. He stared out into the cemetery, afraid to meet Jiyong’s eyes.

Jiyong felt horrible. He hadn’t considered what Seunghyun had gone through during that time, too wrapped up in his own happiness that he had remembered everything that had been taken away from him. He had been feeling sorry for himself that he had those memories taken away from him, but had Seunghyun gone through more because of the fact that he knew what he was missing? Jiyong’s shame kept him silent, and he was surprised when Seunghyun’s deep voice continued talking. 

“How was I going to survive without y’all? How in the world was I going to get you back? When I found out that you had to fall in love with me again, I had all this anxiety. What if you never loved me in the first place? What if you felt sorry for me and you were only with me out of pity? I had no confidence without knowing you or my family was behind me.”

Jiyong slipped his hand into Seunghyun’s, intertwining their fingers, in a gesture of comfort. It wasn’t meant to be sexual, but sometimes it seemed that he couldn’t touch the older man’s skin without getting turned on. He ignored it though, trying to think of what he could say.

“I never told you about when I fell in love with you,” Jiyong stated finally. This was going to be a hard conversation, but he had to have it with the man standing next to him, baring his soul.

Seunghyun looked down at the shorter man, surprised. 

“I don’t know when I fell in love,” Jiyong started, faltering a little at the beginning. “There wasn’t a specific event. For me, it was like knowing that the sun was coming up or that Christmas meant that there was going to be a tree and stockings, or that when mom cooked it was going to be the worst food in the world. I love Seunghyun. There was no beginning to it, so how can there be an end? I can’t remember a time in my life that I wasn’t in love with you. I thought for a time that there was something wrong with me because of it, all of my friends started talking about girls and boobs and dating… I knew that all I wanted was to spend time with you. I hated the thought of having a girlfriend, for either one of us, because it would take time away from us. When you got a girlfriend I wanted to die. My strongest desire, sexually, has always been you.”

Seunghyun looked at Jiyong, incredulous that he had talked about his feelings instead of just talking about them sexually. Jiyong never did that, never just talked about how he was feeling. It was always logic or sex that drove the younger man.

“You mean so much to me, you give me so much. You never even ask me to help you, ever. You’ve always protected me and looked out for my best interest. You’ve always saved my ass whenever I set it on the line. You beat up bullies at school and defended me to my parents when I was in trouble. You helped me with my homework and my chores. I was invincible, because you were there. I can do anything because you exist. When I lost you, I knew a part of me was missing, and it hurt, and I was confused because I didn’t know what it was,” Jiyong wiped away his own tears now, holding a finger up so that Seunghyun would give him a minute instead of touching him. “To know that you hurt like that… it’s my fault for not letting you know how much you mean to me. I didn’t reassure you of my heart, and you doubted how I feel because I didn’t make sure that you knew.”

The rain had abated enough that Seunghyun grabbed Jiyong’s hand and they walked to the car. They were still soaked by the time that they got there, and shivering with the cold. It took them twenty minutes to get from the cemetery to the Kwon Mansion, and it took Seunghyun five minutes to shut himself and Jiyong in Jiyong’s room without anyone else bothering them.

It startled Jiyong how intensely Seunghyun kissed him, deep probing searches with his tongue. He was a little worried his skin was bruised from Seunghyun’s hands gripping his shoulders, but it felt so good that he didn’t protest. His clothing would never be wearable again, that was for sure, he thought as he saw it fall to the floor in tatters. 

Then, he stopped thinking and just enjoyed. It wasn’t hard, or it was, in a manner of speaking. Every part of their bodies was firm and taut, eager to be close, needing to be complete in each other. 

Seunghyun slammed Jiyong’s body against the bedroom wall next to the fireplace. Jiyong grabbed the mantle as he saw the man in front of him fall to his knees, kissing the tops of his thighs and his hipbones, licking labyrinthine patterns before taking one long, straight lick up his shaft. He sucked the tip, laving off the drip of excitement. He slowly took in more and more of Jiyong’s shaft into his mouth, teasing it out, at odds with the earlier intensity of his assault on Jiyong’s senses. 

Jiyong didn’t care. He was too excited about the way Seunghyun was sucking him, Jiyong’s hips thrusting into Seunghyun’s mouth. He looked down at his lover, his closed eyes, his mouth taking him in and the sight of Seunghyun sucking him off turned him on even more. He loved how the older man’s lips puckered out as he was sliding his shaft out of his mouth, and the look of relief on Seunghyun’s face as he took it back in, his head moving back and forth as his hands bruised patterns on Jiyong’s hips. Jiyong could feel Seunghyun’s tongue licking and slightly sucking the bottom of his dick, leaving a moist trail, and the saliva in his mouth was warm, coating him in eroticism. 

Jiyong grabbed one of Seunghyun’s hands and slipped his fingers into his mouth, sucking on his fingers as Seunghyun sucked on his dick. He lifted his bare foot up to Seunghyun’s blue-jeaned crotch and rubbed with the top of it to see if Seunghyun was as turned on as he was, and was happy to feel that the man was hard as a brick. The motion made Seunghyun moan, his deep voice vibrating on Jiyong’s dick made Jiyong scream in pleasure. Seunghyun moaned again on purpose, his hips rolling against Jiyong’s foot and his fingers slipping out of Jiyong’s mouth to stroke from the underside of Jiyong’s balls, rubbing up the sensitive patch of skin between his balls and his anus, and then to slowly slip into that puckered hole, adding one digit at a time as Jiyong felt himself stretch. 

Seunghyun released Jiyong’s shaft from his mouth with a soft popping sound, and pulled Jiyong’s legs around his waist as he stood, supporting him as he worked his own shaft into Jiyong’s tight hole. Jiyong moaned at the feel of him, always a little surprised that something that big could fit inside of him and feel that good. He kissed Seunghyun a little sloppy, unable to be as precise as he usually was, and it seemed to turn Seunghyun on even more, this lack of refinement to his movements. 

Jiyong loved the feel of Seunghyun’s hands on his hips as much as he loved Seunghyun’s dick in his ass. He slid down that shaft, bumping and grinding against his prostate, sending waves of pleasure that felt like it connected with the tip of his dick and his nipples all at the same time. He moved to rub his chest against Seunghyun’s and the feel of their skin gliding together had Seunghyun swallowing Jiyong’s cries of pleasure with his kisses. 

Jiyong’s dick nestled between the slight bumps on Seunghyun’s abdomen, warm and smooth. The space between their bodies wasn’t enough friction for his erection, so he pulled on it himself a few times before Seunghyun possessively pushed his hand away to claim it, sliding his still saliva-wet hand smoothly up and down Jiyong’s shaft as he slid in and out of his ass. 

Neither boy heard the door open, they were so engrossed in each other that they missed Dongwook barging in and staring in shock for a few minutes. When Jiyong finally saw that they had an audience, it turned him on even more and he groaned loudly. When he saw that it turned Dongwook on he felt powerful.

Dongwook palmed his own erection, brought up so high and so fast that it was painful, as he leaned against the open door. He loved living in the Kwon mansion, walking in on moments like these were worth it every time. And as the two hot men could never seem to keep their hands off of each other, it made living there even better. 

Seunghyun turned his head slightly to see what Jiyong was staring at, and he glared at Dongwook until the man left the room with a happy grin on his face. “You are mine,” Seunghyun growled, thrusting up into Jiyong harder than before.

“Oh God, yes,” Jiyong agreed. 

When they came, it was blinding and beautiful. Jiyong’s legs slid to the floor and he almost had to support Seunghyun as they limped to the bed. “I love you, Jiyong.”

“I love you too, Seunghyun.” 

“Thank you,” Seunghyun didn’t quite know what he was thanking him for, but it seemed appropriate.

Jiyong smiled and kissed the tip of Seunghyun’s nose. “I know.”


	8. Chapter 8

The morning sun made love to Jiyong’s body as Seunghyun studied him in the early morning light. He cringed a little to see the hand shaped bruises on his lover’s skin, the thumb prints on the front and the eight finger prints dotting the tops of his ass. He wondered if he hurt Jiyong too badly, but was quickly distracted when Jiyong opened his eyes.

Seeing Seunghyun first thing in the morning was the best way to wake up that Jiyong could imagine. He smiled and leaned up to kiss the tip of his most adorable nose. 

“Morning, lover,” Seunghyun addressed Jiyong in his deep sleep sexy voice. 

Jiyong tried not to be too silly, but he couldn’t help giggling and hiding his face in the pillow. The boys got up together and dressed each other for the work day, picking out their favorite clothing to see on the other one. Seunghyun was decidedly more casual than usual, as he would be tromping around Memphis, taking pictures to replace the ones that failed so dismally earlier that week. 

Breakfast was much the same, and Seunghyun kissed Jiyong and Wink good-bye as he went to work. He said good-bye to his dads and Dongwook, and made it to work with a song on his heart and a bounce in his step.

His pictures were all brilliant, exactly what was needed for the photoshoot, and Mr. Yang was thrilled with them. Seunghyun uploaded them all on the computer before leaving, publishing them to the work web-site so he could pull them up at home this weekend and work on them.

By the time he returned home, he was so happy with the day that he was singing. Everything was perfect, everything was right, the universe couldn’t be a better place to live in than what it was now. He pulled his car into the garage that used to be a carriage house, and he cleaned it up a little before he heard his father behind him.

Mr. Choi was strangely sober, and Seunghyun was quiet because he hadn’t seen him sober for the past six months. He was sitting at a work bench with some papers in front of him. They were written in Korean, and it took Seunghyun a few minutes to sound the letters out enough to realize that they were from Mr. Choi’s mother.

Mr. Choi looked up at Seunghyun, and he rubbed his eyes. “I talked to Jiyong today,” he started, indicating that Seunghyun should sit down on the stool on the other side of the work bench. 

Seunghyun sat down, quietly panicking. Things had obviously been going to well today, if Mr. Choi was acting like this. 

“Your mother never told you why I came to America, did she?” Mr. Choi said, pulling a cigarette out of a soft pack kept in his shirt.

Seunghyun didn’t respond. It was a rhetorical question anyway, so he waited patiently while staring at the man that he called father while he was growing up.

“In Korea, my mother was known as a witch in our neighborhood, and no one would ever willingly be the daughter-in-law of a witch. She had a good friend growing up, your grandmother, who had a daughter who found herself in a difficult situation. It seemed like a logical solution to the problem: me, who could not marry any girl in Korea, and your mother, who no man would marry now that she had a baby with a married man. I got on a plane and came to America.”

Seunghyun studied the man in front of him, trying to figure out if he had been nervous about the decision he had made. How frightening to come to a new country where he didn’t speak the language, he didn’t know the culture, and all because his mother wanted him married.

“I didn’t expect Rosie to be so young. She was tiny, and I thought that she wasn’t much bigger than you were. I didn’t think that I could marry her because she told me right away that she was in love with Hyunbin, that it would never change no matter what. I thought about going home, but then there was you.”

Mr. Choi studied the burning end of his cigarette, trying to find his next words.

“You were such a perfect baby. I fell in love with you long before I fell in love with your mother. Not romantically, you know, just the love that a father feels for his son. You were so small, and you kept growing, changing every day. Soon, you were toddling around after me, and you called me ‘daddy,’ not Mr. Kwon, me. The first picture you drew, you told me it was me, and you followed me around the garage, wanting to know everything that I was doing. You were the pride of my life, and so many times you made me feel content, knowing that even though Rosie ran to Hyunbin you would come to me, you preferred me over Rosie and Hyunbin. I loved to see the pain in his eyes when you would call me daddy and ask me to help you.”

Seunghyun didn’t know how to react to this information, and he continued to keep silent.

“It changed over time, though. I became less concerned with how Rosie and Hyunbin viewed you and I became fascinated with what an amazing artist you were. I felt the pride of a father knowing that my son could bring beauty into this ugly world, and you were so oblivious to what we, your parents, were doing. You were innocent and naïve, and I wanted to protect you. We learned English together, but I probably spoke more Korean to you than I did to Jiyong, which is why you can speak it better than Jiyong.

“Taking comfot in Bora’s arms wasn’t something that I was ever exactly proud of, I hated myself for cheating on Rosie and I hated Bora for being disloyal to Hyunbin. I couldn’t ever be ashamed of Jiyong, and I loved him as instantly as I loved you. I considered both of you to be my sons even though I share blood with Jiyong and not you. There was no way that I could leave after I found out that Bora was pregnant. I couldn’t leave my boys alone.

“When I realized that Jiyong was like my mother, I cried. I knew the instant that it was true, and I explained to Hyunbin what he was going to have to do to protect this little boy, keep him safe from spirits and magical creatures. Imagine the pride I felt in you when you instinctively protected that little boy, knowing exactly what you had to do to make him feel better, looking for help to protect him from other people when you didn’t have the knowledge or the tools to do it yourself. 

“When I saw that you two were closer than most boys, when I knew you were in love with each other, I couldn’t tell you no. What example had I set that I could lecture you on morality? As time went by, I realized that you two had made the right decision, to be with each other. You two fit, and you know each other so well that there is no other person that you could be happy with. I’m not going to keep you apart like Bora and I kept Rosie and Hyunbin apart, that would be a greater sin and I can only forsee worse consequences if we try to keep you apart. 

“The reason I tell you all this, son,” Mr. Choi said, moving his hand like he wanted to pour himself a drink, “Is that you are gonna have to fight with Wink’s father. That wizard is going to come back, and he’s going to want revenge. I need to give you every tool you can to be able to defend this family. I would do it for you, I would die for either one of you boys, but that wizard is only going to attack you.”

Seunghyun nodded. He knew this was true.

“You found out that love is the most powerful weapon when working against magic. You immediately moved to make Jiyong fall in love with you again, which was the strongest way to fight. I want you to know that spell would have been broken if you had made Hyunbin, me, or even that Dongwook kid love you as family again. It would have taken longer, but we would have been effective. I can’t help but think that you were scared that none of us loved you enough in order to be effective because I know that I haven’t told you, and neither has Hyunbin. You need to know about our love so that you can use it as a shield. The only reason that we were vulnerable to begin with from an attack like that is because you didn’t believe that anyone here loved you. That’s why magic is so dangerous, son. That’s why you have to know and believe in your family and friends. Your doubt is what made us vulnerable, and our lack of reassurances and our neglect of you and Jiyong is what built that doubt.”

Edward Choi rubbed his face, wiping away tears from his eyes. “I realized that even though I loved you, I never told you, and that’s the same as not loving you because words are so powerful. I wish that I could have been a better parent…” 

Seunghyun interrupted him by wrapping his arms around his dad. “I love you, dad. I love both of my dads so much, you’ve both been the best fathers a man could want,” he kissed the top of his dad’s head. “You have made me into the man that I am, how can I not be grateful for what you’ve done?”

Mr. Choi was never comfortable with physical contact, but he put up with the hug for a good five seconds before he pulled back. 

Seunghyun had to smile at his dad’s inability to touch anyone, ever. He tried to cover his smile up though so that he wouldn’t hurt the older man’s feelings.

Mr. Choi gathered the papers that were on the workbench together while he cleared his throat. “This was my mother’s notes on all of spells she knew or had heard about. I thought that we could give it to Jiyong, see if he could find anything that he might be able to use. She sent it years ago when I told her Jiyong was like her, but I could never figure out how to give it to him. I guess circumstances being what they are, he’d appreciate it now.”

Seunghyun nodded and helped his father gather the loose pieces of paper up. It was a thin stack, nothing terribly impressive, but he wondered if Jiyong would find this information from his grandmother worth anything. If he knew his boyfriend, he would tear up at the thought of it.

Seunghyun and his dad walked towards the house, not touching or speaking but feeling truly connected to each other. Dongwook was chopping vegetables in the kitchen, boiling water for something, while Mr. Kwon caught up with some paperwork on the kitchen table. Jiyong and Wink played with a white napkin, playing peek-a-boo. 

“Daddy!” Wink screamed as she saw Seunghyun, holding her hands out so the man would pick her up.

He did, kissing her a few times before he leaned over and gave Jiyong a loving kiss. They stared into each other’s eyes for a few seconds before smiling, and Seunghyun sat next to his lover. “Dad wants to give you something,” Seunghyun said.

Mr. Choi looked so uncomfortable that Seunghyun felt bad for him. “This is… um,” he looked over at Mr. Kwon, who put down his paperwork to watch the scene. “This is from your grandmother. You and she were a lot alike,” he hastily tossed the papers on the table in front of Jiyong, and some of them slid onto the floor. Mr. Choi blushed and knelt down to pick them up, and Jiyong immediately moved to help the other man. 

Mr. Kwon looked over at Seunghyun, who smiled at the man. Mr. Kwon’s lower lip was trembling, and he took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. 

Jiyong looked at the papers he was holding. Seunghyun might be better at speaking Korean, but Jiyong could read and write in the language fluently. “This is…” his eyes widened as he read what was scrawled across the page, “This is magic spells?”

Mr. Choi pulled at his shirt collar. It was hard for him to admit that his mother did magic, as it had caused him so many problems growing up, especially in that country where things like magic and those that believed in it were derided so often, “Yes. She thought that one day you would want to read what she had found out from experience. There aren’t a lot of teachers for people… people like you.”

Jiyong looked into Mr. Choi’s eyes, tears slowly forming in his own. “Thank you,” he said, hugging the man. It was the first time that Jiyong had ever touched Mr. Choi, and now Mr. Choi was crying.

The men dealt with their emotions quickly, each of them too embarrassed to be caught crying like that. Dongwook put steaks and salads down on the table, with a little hamburger patty for Wink, and they all dug into the food. The meal was a pleasant experience, and afterwards they sat around the table talking about things that had happened to them, sharing plans for the future and then cleaning up the table while Wink played on the kitchen floor.

Seunghyun was so happy with the feeling of family. He shored it up in his mind, wanting to store it there forever. He could live in this moment forever and be perfectly content. 

Jiyong studied the papers that Mr. Choi had given him. There were a lot of helpful notes and personalized encouragements that his grandmother had written to him, so much love from this woman across the sea that he had never met before, but she knew exactly how he felt. She knew what terror he experienced and the methods she had used in dealing with it, how other people had treated her because she didn’t always think fast enough to react the way that she should. It was as if a whole new world had opened its doors to Jiyong, and he could discover himself through another person’s eyes. And he knew that she loved him. That was the easiest part for him to understand. 

Seunghyun watched Jiyong reading the words on the pages in front of him. He was so glad to see Jiyong connecting with himself through his grandmother. He knew that it made the other man feel complete. It was such a good night.

Dongwook gave him the trash from the night’s meal to take out to the compost pile that Seunghyun’s mother grandmother had started when she first started working for the Kwon family years ago. Jiyong’s legacy was magic, while Seunghyun’s was the business of creating things, Seunghyun thought with a smile. It wasn’t a bad match, when all was said and done. Seunghyun took the bucket of scraps out the back door and walked to the far end of the rose garden, which was dormant in the beginnings of frost in early December. He knew that there would be buds and leaves starting by late March, but he appreciated the way that the thorns wrapped up and around each other in clumps right now. There was beauty all around the home he grew up in, and it would be carried on and passed down to Wink, if he could adopt her.

He heard a noise down the path, towards the lilies, and he followed it to find out what it was. Maybe there had been an animal there, digging up the bulbs for food. Seunghyun had to prevent that from happening, maybe it was time to install a bit of a fence around the property. He wondered if he should do a white picket fence, or if that was too cliché. Maybe a chain-link fence would be more appropriate; he certainly knew it would be cheaper. 

That was all he thought when something came down on his head hard and everything turned black. 

It felt like he was swimming in cotton candy for a while, everything was so peaceful and soft. When he opened his eyes again, he saw a lot of cement and his head hurt, so he closed his eyes and tried to go back to that cotton candy place, but water was thrown on him making sure that he was fully conscious.

He moaned and tried to rub his eyes to get the water out, but his arms were drawn out to his sides and tied to the sides of a bed headboard. He was bent over on a mattress, and he was completely naked. 

“Well, glad to see you’ve come to join me,” a man’s voice said from above him. Seunghyun squinted in the dim light to see Wink’s dad standing above him. “I’ve been waiting for you to wake up.” 

“Where am I? What time is it? How long have I been out?” Seunghyun asked, trying to get his bearings.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” the man said, leering down at Seunghyun. “Right now, you should be asking yourself how you’re going to get away before I punish you for thinking that you could take my little girl from me. Don’t you know what I am?”

“You can’t hurt me anymore. I know how to protect myself from magic,” Seunghyun rolled his eyes. “You might as well let me go.”

“Who said I was going to use magic?” the man asked, reaching for his pant’s zipper.


	9. Chapter 9

Seunghyun laughed, even though he was tied to the headboard, even though he was naked and his ass was sticking up in the air. He couldn’t help it. “You want to rape me with that?”

In all fairness, Wink’s dad was normal sized, completely average when all was said and done. 

“Damn, I think my grandmother had a bigger penis than you,” Seunghyun laughed, trying to gain control of the situation.

Apparently, he had tried the wrong tactic. Wink’s dad’s face turned red. 

“I mean, I’m just used to looking at my own, so maybe yours seems so small in comparison to my own. I see why you need to fuck me now. Wake me up when its over,” Seunghyun said, trying to get himself comfortable.

“I’ve tied you up, you fucking Chink asshole…”

“I’m Korean-American,” Seunghyun sighed loudly.

“What?”

“You called me a Chink. That’s a derogatory term for someone from China. It would be more appropriate to call me a Gook or a Konk, if you prefer the Japanese method of insulting. Some people call us wind tunnel testers ‘cause our eyes are so slanty…”

“Shut the fuck up you… gook,” Wink’s dad looked a little confused about why he was trying to get that right.

“Thanks, I appreciate your effort in getting it right this time,” Seunghyun nodded. 

Wink’s dad got pissed at this and smacked Seunghyun, who felt like he got whiplash a little. His ears rang as he tried to clear his head from the blow, but Wink’s dad was busy breaking a wooden chair over his back. 

Seunghyun did scream out in pain at this point, which he would later deny even though Jiyong came in at that moment to see it. Jiyong was quiet, surveying the scene and trying to figure out how he could fix everything with the least amount of effort.

“How in fuck do you think that you can protect my baby girl if I could hurt you this easy? Do you think that you’re a fucking man? What kind of man would let himself get fucked like this?” Wink’s dad demanded, with spit flying from his mouth because he was so angry. 

Seunghyun was gasping for breath, and Wink’s dad was getting an erection, and Jiyong decided he didn’t care about taking the path of least resistance. He didn’t know if his boyfriend had been hurt or not besides the chair coming down on his back, and he wasn’t about to watch Wink’s dad do anything else to his lover. “You are a fucking animal, you prick! What did you do to my boyfriend!” Jiyong’s temper was enraged. 

Wink’s dad looked up startled and said something in that sloshy language that he spoke, and it looked like a fireball flew towards Jiyong from the man’s outstretched hand. Jiyong replied with two short words in Korean that Seunghyun didn’t recognize, while Jiyong’s left forearm crossed quickly in front of him and a thin green arc of light deflected the fireball, extinguishing it immediately. Jiyong held his right hand out to send his own fireball at the man, who looked so completely astonished that Jiyong could fight back with magic that he had half of his hair burnt off before he could do anything. 

“I am Jiyong Kwon, you asshole, you should find out who you’re crossing before you take what isn’t yours. I am the grandson of the most powerful witch in Seoul, and you have just hurt my lover,” Jiyong flung his hand out towards the magician, and he threw another fireball towards the man. 

This time, Wink’s dad was ready. He sucked the fireball into his mouth and blew it back at Jiyong, who was more than ready with his other hand, and he turned the fireball to snow, falling softly to the ground in front of him. 

“That’s it? That’s all you got?” Jiyong asked.

The man’s head was smoking, and he picked up a lead pipe laying on the ground, bringing it down on Seunghyun’s forearm, breaking it in half. Seunghyun would later admit to screaming in pain and shock at this point. “I can kill your lover right now, that’s what I got you Ch… Gook!” he looked pissed at correcting himself, and then lifted the lead pipe back up, ready to bring it down over Seunghyun’s head.

A gunshot rang out, and Jiyong and a screaming Seunghyun looked up to see a huge hole appear in Wink’s dad’s forehead, while blood and brains exploded out the back side. 

Seunghyun threw up. 

Jiyong turned to see Dongwook holding a shotgun up to his shoulder, and he looked like he was staring down the sites at where Wink’s dad had been standing just moments earlier. The two boys stared at each other, a look of understanding passed back and forth between them before they ran to Seunghyun and untied his good arm before they found a knife and carefully cut the rope that held his broken arm to the bedframe. 

Dongwook took his shirt off to cover Seunghyun’s body. 

“Thanks, hyung,” Seunghyun said between gritted teeth.

“That bastard didn’t…” 

“No, you two came in time,” Seunghyun said. “You’ve got a pretty good body, hyung,” he said a little deliriously.

“You’re to only look at my body, hyung,” Jiyong said, wiping the vomit from Seunghyun’s lips. 

“If I look at you, all I want to do is fuck your brains out and I’m not wearing pants,” Seunghyun said, trying to distract himself from the fact that his arm was broken in half. It really wasn’t working. 

Dongwook was already on the phone with the police.

Jiyong tried to smile at his lover, but seeing him in such obvious pain was making it hard. Tears streamed down his cheeks as he kissed Seunghyun’s lips. “Oh God I was so scared,” he said, staring into the eyes of the only person who ever mattered to him.

“I’m going to have an erection when the police or whoever get here,” Seunghyun said. “If you keep this up, I’ll fuck you with my broken arm.”

“I’d almost like to see you try that,” Jiyong said, keeping his lover’s eyes on his so that he wouldn’t look at his arm and pass out. 

“Your eyes are so pretty, my little dragon,” Seunghyun said. 

“Yours are prettier, so keep them open so I can stare at them, okay?” Jiyong said when Seunghyun’s eyelids started flickering.

“I just want to go to sleep…” Seunghyun said on the verge of passing out by the time the police arrived.

“Just a few more minutes, lover,” Jiyong said, wiping tears away. “Tell me what you like about my eyes,” he tried to get Seunghyun to stay awake.

“I wrote more poems about your lips,” Seunghyun said. “Poems in my head.”

“Sounds like sexy fun,” Jiyong said, patting Seunghyun’s face so that he wouldn’t pass out.

“Your lips look like a girl’s pussy,” Seunghyun said. 

“Your poetry sucks,” Dongwook said. “There better be something that rhymes with that.”

“Open verse,” Seunghyun said, and then he passed out. 

The EMTs took him away from the scene almost immediately after they arrived. Jiyong rode in the back of the ambulance with them, and by that time Mr. Kwon and Mr. Choi arrived at the scene and stayed with Dongwook, who had to explain to the cops why he shot Wink’s dad.

The Med in Memphis was famous for its Trauma Unit. Every United States military doctor had to serve at The Med for one year before being deployed anywhere in the world. What with the gang fights, illegal immigrants, redneck show-offs, and the incidents that happened at any time those three elements mixed on the streets of Memphis, Seunghyun’s forearm being broken clean in half was not at all shocking to the doctors who worked there. 

Jiyong stayed at his side the entire time, even though he almost passed out when the doctors reset Seunghyun’s arm. It made a crunching sound, a lot like dried spaghetti sticks being broken. Jiyong did throw up a little, but no one paid him much attention because it was so common at that hospital. 

It took Seunghyun a little while to wake up, but some nurse had been sweet and doped him up with morphine via an IV that ran into his veins. 

“Ji?” Seunghyun said before his eyes had focused to see the man sitting next to him on the bed. “Hey baby.”

“How are you feeling?” Jiyong asked, holding Seunghyun’s good hand up to his face.

“Look at your eyes all sparkling like citrine,” Seunghyun said.

“Now you write poetry to my eyes,” Jiyong said, trying to not cry all over this man.

“I can’t feel my body,” Seunghyun said. He didn’t even look aware enough of his surroundings to panic at that thought.

“You’ve got enough morphine floating in your veins to bring down a baby elephant,” Jiyong said, kissing Seunghyun’s hand chastely.

“I like your lips,” Seunghyun said with a goofy smile on his face.

“Do you even know what you’re saying?” Jiyong asked him.

“I like your nose, too,” Seunghyun said, shutting his eyes so that the room would stop spinning.

“Hey son,” Mr. Kwon walked into the private room with Mr. Choi, Dongwook, Onew, and baby Wink behind him.

“It’s my daughter,” Seunghyun said.

“Daddy!” Wink said, happy as a clam. She reached out for Seunghyun, but just as happily settled into Jiyong’s arms. 

“Daddy can’t hold you right now,” Jiyong told her. “You’re going to have to settle for Papa.”

“Papa?” Wink asked him, touching this mouth and nose.

“Papa,” Jiyong agreed, kissing the little girl on her nose.

Wink settled into Jiyong’s chest and looked at her daddy before she shut her eyes. Her hand continued to play with the threads on Jiyong’s sweater, so everyone knew she was still awake. 

“Dongwook and I just got out of 201,” Mr. Kwon said, referring to the police station by its address on Poplar Avenue, just like everyone else did in Memphis. “They’ve agreed already that he shot the man with right using self-defense, so he won’t be brought up on charges. It helped that the man had previous charges against Wink’s mother for assault, as well as against other citizens.”

Jiyong got up and hugged Dongwook for saving his lover’s life. Dongwook hugged the smaller man and his little girl back, for once not being a pervert about it at all.

“He’s mine, Wookie,” Seunghyun said with little heat from the hospital bed. “Go find your own,” he slurred a little bit.

Dongwook smiled over Jiyong’s head, holding the man and his best friend’s child. “I ain’t competing with you until you can get up and move around. Once you can, it’s on, understand?”

“Skrait,” Seunghyun said, using Seungri’s word. It was a much easier word to say when one was pumped up on morphine.

Jiyong sat with Seunghyun for the remaining 12 hours until they were released by doctors, who needed the room for someone who had a three-wheeler’s handlebar stuck in his chest. They wheeled Seunghyun out to the van that Mr. Kwon had brought, with Wink sitting proudly on her Daddy’s knee on the way out. 

They all fit in the van, and Mr. Choi took over driving it from Taemin, who had proudly driven the vehicle to the hospital without getting lost once. Mr. Choi had been too distraught to drive from North Memphis all the way downtown when his son had been hurt that as badly as he had.

As soon as they pulled up in front of the Kwon mansion, they were greeted by a tall blond woman on the front steps. 

“Mommy!” Wink called out from her car seat, flapping her arms and legs in excitement.

Dongwook barely got the child unbuckled when she took off, wobbling up the front steps and then flying into her mother’s arms. Seunghyun and Jiyong both felt their heart strings being pulled as the little girl started babbling to her mother in her baby language. They knew some of the words that she was using, then.

“Gwyn,” Mr. Kwon greeted the woman.

“Hyunbin,” the woman greeted Mr. Kwon back.

“Let’s go inside, where its warmer,” Mr. Kwon unlocked the front door.

When they were all seated, Wink crawled back up into Seunghyun’s lap. She rested her cheek against him and was soon asleep. The day’s excitement and the strange sleeping hours the night before had made her tired.

Gwyn was really surprised at how her daughter was reacting to Seunghyun. “Look, I need to talk to you about what is going to happen with my daughter,” she turned to Mr. Kwon. “I’m not going to be able to take care of her for a long time.”

“You should know that her father is dead,” Mr. Kwon was saying. 

Seunghyun fell asleep with the little girl on his lap, his good arm holding her protectively. His head lay back on the couch at an odd angle, and eventually it fell on Jiyong’s shoulder. Jiyong didn’t mind at all, and he put his arm around Seunghyun and the little girl, watching the conversation between his father and the girl’s mother intently.

“We want her,” Jiyong said. 

“What?” Gwyn asked, looking from her daughter to Jiyong and Seunghyun.

“We love her, we can provide her with a stable home and a good education. We can take care of her,” Jiyong said.

“I’m sorry, but you’re twenty years old and he’s only twenty-two. How are you going to raise…”

“I’m going to graduate from pre-law in two and a half years, and then it will take me three years to get my law degree. Seunghyun makes pretty good money as a photographer right now, and we’re a good family for her. She already calls us her family.”

Gwyn looked at Jiyong, and then over at Mr. Kwon. “What do you think, Hyunbin?”

“I think that there are very much worse things that you could choose to put your daughter through, and I think that if you keep her you will do it. I’m not saying that you need to give her up to my son and his lover, but adoption is a logical step as you are so unstable right now.”

“She has special needs. My family might come after her, there are so few born to us now. I chose her father because he is a one of them…”

“Jiyong is a wizard,” Mr. Kwon reassured her.

“My people don’t fight fare. They are ruthless.” 

“I might point out to you that the men in this house are not weak. They have lived through many things, and we are united in our purposes. If you sign your daughter over to my son, she will be part of our family and we will protect her.”

Gwyn was quiet for a minute. She stared at her daughter sleeping on Seunghyun’s chest. “What is he?” she finally asked.

Mr. Choi’s head snapped up. “What?”

“He’s not altogether human, is he?”

Mr. Kwon and Mr. Choi looked at each other. “What do you mean?” Mr. Kwon asked.

Jiyong stared at her, surprised. He looked over at his lover, sleeping peacefully. It made sense that he might be something, he was very lucky when it came to supernatural situations, and he wasn’t like anyone else Jiyong had ever known. Jiyong originally thought that it was because he was Seunghyun, self-contained, but someone else asking what he might possibly be opened up a new line of thinking to Jiyong.

“His mother was not entirely human,” Gwyn said, “was she? She liked growing things?”

Mr. Kwon stared at her. “She took after her mother that way…” 

“Mmm. More her father,” Gwyn said, standing up and walking closer to Seunghyun. Her hair started floating as she studied the man with her strange, pale green eyes. Jiyong held Seunghyun and the little girl he considered to be his daughter closer to him in the protection of his arms, both of them completely unconscious. 

“He’s not one of ours… is there some sort of fairy in your folklore that smells like rain?” Gwyn asked.

“I don’t know a lot of our folktales,” Mr. Kwon admitted.

Gwyn stared at Seunghyun a little longer before she went back and sat on the couch. “I have to return to my… home… for a period of time. Maybe years. I don’t want anyone there to know that I’ve had a child, I don’t want her raised the way I was raised. Can I sign over custody to your son and his lover tonight?”

Mr. Kwon nodded, pulling out his laptop and powering it up. “Let me call Judge Brisentine to come over and witness transfer of custody. We can get this done tonight, you can sign the documents, and the boys can sign them in the morning. Right now, though, I want the three of them to go to bed, and you and I can finish this.” 

Gwyn nodded. “They look like they’ve been through Hell.”

“They’ve been fighting Wink’s biological father,” Mr. Kwon corrected her. 

She winced, but Jiyong was already shaking Seunghyun awake and taking Wink off of his lap. “Let’s go to bed, lover.”

Seunghyun was carried to bed by Mr. Choi, and Jiyong put Wink to bed and then joined Seunghyun in their room after telling Mr. Choi goodnight. 

Seunghyun was completely unconscious while Jiyong carefully changed his clothing into his flannel pajamas, taking extra care of his arm and the plaster cast that was holding it still. Seunghyun moaned a little when it was moved, but the morphine still trickled around in his veins enough to keep him unconscious. 

Jiyong stared at his lover’s face, grateful that it was still there for him to look at, grateful that he was still alive and all that he had to worry about was a broken arm. 

“I love you, Seunghyun Choi. I love you I love you I love you,” Jiyong chanted, hoping that his love would protect him from all of the evil that might come to visit them in the future.


	10. Chapter 10

“Where’s Jiyong?” Seunghyun groused at Dongwook.

“He’s at school, honey,” Dongwook said, fixing the tray in front of Seunghyun. “You eat that up so that you can take your pain pills.”

“I don’t want to eat,” Seunghyun said. 

“You eat, or you can’t take your medicine ‘cause it makes you throw up, remember?”

“I like throwing up,” Seunghyun glared at Dongwook.

“You hate throwing up, you bitch every time you do it. If you don’t eat soon, you’re going to start hurting again.”

Seunghyun glared at Dongwook as he ate his grilled cheese and tomato soup. Wink stared at him with wide eyes at the other end of the bed and copied his actions. 

“Daddy, tomato soup tastes yucky,” Wink complained. 

“I know it does, puddin’. Tell Uncle Wookie how awful it is,” Seunghyun said.

Dongwook glared at Seunghyun. “Teaching my niece how to be a brat is not going to make me stop.”

Seunghyun smiled innocently. “I wasn’t teaching her how to be…”

“I’m home,” Jiyong announced, setting his backpack down next to the bedroom door. 

“Papa!” Wink yelled, sliding off the bed and running to Jiyong with open arms. “Daddy is being a brat,” she whispered loudly near Jiyong’s ear.

“Oh no,” Jiyong whispered back, just as loudly. “Should we put him in time out?”

“No,” Wink said, giggling at the thought of her daddy in time out. “He’s sick. He’ll stop when he is better.”

Jiyong kissed the little girl and then walked over to Dongwook, surveying the half-way eaten food and the rebellious look on Seunghyun’s face. “Thanks, Dongwook. I can take over from here…” 

“Thank God,” Dongwook said, reaching to take the little princess from Jiyong. “Wink and I are going downstairs, away from the cranky man. His pills are in on your bathroom counter,” he gestured needlessly towards the bathroom as he settled Wink on his hip. “When he drives you crazy, I’ll come back up.”

“It’s only for a few more days,” Jiyong said.

“If that man hadn’t saved my ass so many times in college… amongst other things… I would so be lighting him on fire right about now,” Dongwook left the room muttering about Seunghyun.

Jiyong leaned down to quickly kiss his boyfriend as soon as they were gone, but moaned in pleased surprise when Seunghyun’s good arm quickly reached up and he deepened the kiss. It was a pleasant interlude of lips and tongue and teeth, and Jiyong was reluctant to pull away, especially when he had such a sexy boyfriend. “Eat your food baby,” Jiyong whispered fondly.

Seunghyun pulled a face, but then ate his food. He choked down the horse sized pills with some water, and then consented to have the covers pulled up around his chin. “Cuddle with me,” he said as he felt his eyelids drooping.

“If I cuddle with you, you won’t get any sleep and you need to sleep, Hyunnie,” Jiyong kissed his boyfriend’s forehead.

“Not getting any sleep is fun, though,” Seunghyun said drowsily. 

“Okay, give me five minutes and I’ll be right there,” Jiyong promised, a delighted smile appearing on his face as Seunghyun smiled up at him. He had no intention of following through, and sure enough it only took Seunghyun three minutes to fall asleep. Jiyong gathered his tray and Wink’s too, and carried them down to the kitchen.

“That man could try the patience of a saint,” Dongwook complained, stepping over Wink, who was playing with blocks on the kitchen floor. He helped Jiyong carry the trays to the sink, and the men started washing them and putting them up in the cabinets together.

“It’s the first time he’s ever been sick,” Jiyong said, “you have to give him a break.”

Dongwook looked a little surprised at that. “You think it has something to do with him not being all human?”

Jiyong shrugged. “We don’t know what he is,” he said. “Wink’s mom didn’t seem to know, either.”

“What do you think he is?” Dongwook asked.

“I think he’s people like Gwyn,” Jiyong said, honestly. “I can’t imagine that dad and Mr. Choi didn’t notice that Rose wasn’t full blood Korean, so I have my doubts on that.”

“Do you have pictures of her?” Dongwook asked “Maybe we should start there.” 

Jiyong sighed, putting the last dish up in the cabinet after wiping it off with a hand towel. “You know, I don’t even know if I want Seunghyun to worry about him not being all… human. Maybe we shouldn’t tell him.”

Dongwook gave Jiyong a scathing glance. “You know your lover better than that. How do you feel when he keeps information from you?”

Jiyong thought back to six months ago, when Seunghyun hadn’t told him that their fathers were actually each others’ fathers… “Yeah, I guess we should tell him. I don’t think that it will make him very happy, though.” 

Dongwook shrugged. “I think that you underestimate Seunghyun’s ability to adapt. I’m not sure if I would care about it either way, but I think that Seunghyun would like to know that about himself.”

Jiyong leaned his head back as he leaned against the cabinets, lightly knocking it against the door. “I’m scared that he’ll think that he needs to leave me because of it.”

Dongwook rolled his eyes. “That man has been in love with you for how long now, and you think that he’ll leave you ‘cause of a little fairy in his blood?”

Jiyong couldn’t help but be nervous about it. 

“He’s got you and Wink, and there’s no way that he’d walk out on either of you,” Dongwook said, bitterness tingeing his tone an awful color.

Jiyong looked up, surprised. “Wookie, are you okay?”

Dongwook laughed at himself, mostly. “I can’t live without him, either. I tried, when he moved out of our apartment in Atlanta, I tried to get over him. I make all these jokes, but…” Dongwook sat down heavily on one of the kitchen chairs. “All he wants is you.” 

Jiyong didn’t know what to say. “Dongwook, I…”

“No, no, don’t say anything. It makes everything worse, knowing that you’re worthy of his affections when you’re so damn nice to me, knowing given half a chance I’d steal his sweet ass and never feel bad about it.”

Jiyong smiled at that. “I think you’d feel bad about it.”

“Well, maybe. But not for long,” Dongwook smiled at the thought. He sighed and rubbed his chest a little, trying to make the ache go away. 

Jiyong stared at the man. He was ridiculously beautiful, there was no reason that he shouldn’t have been able to find someone else to love at this point. “I thought you and Jae…”

“Jae is awesome. He’s beautiful, smart, kind. He and Yoochun… they have some things to work out, and I’m not part of that.” 

“How ‘bout Hyunjoong?” 

“I’m not sure that Hyunjoong really wants anyone at all right now. I think he just got his heart broken. Besides, when you’re getting over someone, you don’t just try to replace them with whoever is available.”

Jiyong shrugged. He had tried to do that when Seunghyun had left him. It didn’t make him feel that great though, when Seunghyun came back to him. 

“I’ll figure it out, Jiyong. Even if it means I have to live in the bedroom next to him for the rest of my life, I’ll figure it out. Your family has been so great in letting me stay…” 

“You are part of our family, no matter what happens in the future, Dongwook. You fight with us, you work with us… family is not defined by blood but by the choices that you make in your life,” Jiyong said. 

Dongwook stood up and pulled Jiyong into a hug. “Man, I love you even though you’re tapping…”

“He’s mine, you asshole,” Seunghyun said from the bottom of the staircase. 

“Yeah, but you’re crippled, so you can’t fight me for him,” Dongwook smiled over Jiyong’s head. 

“You’re such a rat bastard. Jiyong,” Seunghyun turned to the smaller man, still in Dongwook’s embrace, “don’t get any ideas. I’m better in bed.”

“Would you like to test that theory out?” Dongwook whispered into Jiyong’s ear, watching for Seunghyun’s reaction. 

Seunghyun stumbled a little on the way to the kitchen table, but sat down only seconds before Wink crawled up into his lap. “You said you were going to come cuddle with me, and here I find you with Wookie.” Wink kissed his cheek and patted it, smiling up at her daddy.

Jiyong finally squirmed out of Dongwook’s arms, and he smiled, a little guilty. “You fell asleep. You need to sleep, baby.”

“Too much sleeping. I want to get outside and do something,” Seunghyun said. 

“It’s cold out. Weather said it might even snow before Christmas,” Jiyong said, looking out the bay windows. 

“Weather is always wrong,” Seunghyun drawled, but he looked out at the sky a little hopeful.

“It doesn’t snow in Memphis,” Dongwook scoffed, but he was looking out the window with anticipation, also. 

Wink crawled out of her daddy’s lap and went to press her tiny nose up against the window. “Want snow, daddy?” 

“It would be pretty,” Seunghyun said.

Wink stomped her tiny baby foot, encased in a tiny yellow bunny print sock. “Snow, now!” she demanded at the sky with a pouty face. 

Fat snowdrops started falling from the sky, falling to the ground gently.

Seunghyun glanced at Jiyong and Dongwook, panicked. “You remember who I am, right?” 

Jiyong and Dongwook looked surprised. “Yeah, why wouldn’t we?” 

Seunghyun looked a little embarrassed, “When Wink’s dad made it snow, y’all forgot about me…” 

“Snow daddy!” Wink announced. “Happy?”

“Of course I am,” Seunghyun picked the little girl up with his good arm, kissing her in relief. “You did such a good job.”

Wink smiled at her daddy, patting his cheek again. “Love my daddy. Pwetty daddy,” she leaned her head against her daddy’s chest, smiling to hear his heart beating.

“Well,” Dongwook said, staring at the little girl. “I guess it’ll never be boring at the Kwon mansion.” 

“Good chance of that,” Jiyong agreed.

Mr. Kwon and Mr. Choi stumbled into the kitchen, shaking snow from their coats and shoes. “Where did all this snow come from?” Mr. Kwon asked.

“Your granddaughter,” Jiyong said, smiling up at his dad. “She’s showing off for her daddy.”

“How’re you feeling, son?” Mr. Choi asked Seunghyun, sitting at the kitchen table while Dongwook got up to fix him and Mr. Kwon hot chocolate. 

“I feel a little out of it, and my arm hurts,” Seunghyun said honestly.

“I guess that’s a good sign,” Mr. Choi frowned at the arm, as if making faces at it would heal it.

“Your dad and I have been talking,” Mr. Kwon said, “about something that happened while you were… unconscious.”

Seunghyun looked at Mr. Kwon, who cleared his throat and looked at Mr. Choi for encouragement. He looked over at his dad, who fiddled with some grease underneath his nails.

“Wink’s mama said that she thought you were… not all human,” Mr. Kwon said.

Seunghyun smiled at Mr. Kwon, waiting for him to laugh. When it didn’t happen, he looked at the other men in his family, who all had the same serious face. “Okay, well then, what am I?” 

“You don’t get it from my side,” Mr. Kwon said. “I can’t help you the way your dad helped Jiyong.”

“Oh,” Seunghyun said. “I guess we gotta find out where I got it from then, right?” 

“Gwyn said that you got it from your grandfather,” Mr. Kwon explained, “Your mother’s father.”

Seunghyun looked surprised, then he struggled to remember the man he called grandfather. “I don't know anything abuot him,” he said, with a little shock.

Mr. Kwon started to say something, and then he, too, paused. “You know, I can’t remember him, either…”

“He was dead before I came here,” Mr. Choi said, “I think…”

“Where is he buried?” Seunghyun asked. 

“I’m not sure,” Mr. Kwon said, very confused. “I swear I handled all of the details of Rose’s life…” 

“Well, when did grandma go?” Seunghyun asked.

“You were five. We buried Rose next to her,” Mr. Choi said. 

“Let’s start there, see if my grandfather is buried next to grandma. Then we’ll start pulling up immigration documentation and my mother’s birth certificate…”

“Do you think he’s from Korea?” Jiyong asked, picking up Wink and straightening her hair bows.

Seunghyun blinked at him a few times… “Do you think that I’m not full blood Korean?”

“I think you got something a little wild inside of you,” Dongwook put in.

Seunghyun stared at Dongwook, trying to figure out if he was hitting on him or not.

“Maybe you’re part something else. I always thought you looked a little Japanese,” Mr. Choi said.

Seunghyun gave him a look like he couldn’t figure out what was going on, “Really?” 

“You are very pretty,” Jiyong said with a soft smile on his face. “I don’t care what you got in your veins.”

Seunghyun blushed, touched by Jiyong’s words.

“In any case, this isn’t something that we’re going to figure out tonight,” Mr. Kwon said. “Jiyong’s got his finals next week, and then we need to figure out what we’re going to do for Christmas now that we have half-pint here to worry about. But first, Seunghyun, you need to get back up to bed. You’re still healing. Here Jiyong,” Mr. Kwon gestured with his hands, “let me have my granddaughter and you take your man up to his room and make him sleep.”

Jiyong got an evil glint in his eyes before he surrendered his daughter into his dad’s hands, and then pulled on Seunghyun’s good arm. “C’mon baby, let’s tuck you in.”

Jiyong pushed Seunghyun into the bed and turned around to shut the door by bracing a chair underneath the doorknob. “Can’t have a certain little girl walking in while I’m making you sleepy,” Jiyong said with a wide grin.

Seunghyun said nothing, but smiled as he leaned back against the pillows. He licked his lips in eagerness, awaiting whatever Jiyong was getting ready to dish out from that wonderfully creative mind of his. “What are you going to do to me?” he finally asked after watching Jiyong slowly and carefully take his clothing off, revealing wide expanses of smooth honey golden skin that spread over his body in intriguing hills and valleys. 

“Nothing that should scare you, lover,” Jiyong said with an affectionate smile. “Just relax and lean back.”

Seunghyun was used to being in charge, but he enjoyed letting Jiyong take over, and Jiyong seemed to like it, too. He watched in fascination as his lover carefully removed his clothing in between kisses, and it only took minutes before he had to shut his eye against the sensations that Jiyong was rousing on his nerves. 

Jiyong licked the tip of his dick, and Seunghyun groaned as the man spread his legs and licked up the inside of his thighs and nuzzled his sac. Jiyong had learned a few things during their time together, and Seunghyun hissed when he gently sucked one of his testicles into his mouth, his clever fingers tracing patterns on the side that his mouth wasn’t on. He switched sides, caressing his shaft and licking up until his sinful lips engulfed the head of his penis. 

Seunghyun’s voice softly mumbled something that could have been in Korean, but might have been in English. Jiyong smiled before he slid his mouth all the way down his shaft, lightly massaging the man’s balls, and then sliding a finger down to that sensitive patch of skin, where he inserted the barest slip of the tip of his finger into Seunghyun’s anus. 

Seunghyun bucked his hips, shoving his dick further into Jiyong’s mouth, and Jiyong reveled in the power he had over his man. Seunghyun’s eyes were closed, his mouth was slightly open, and he gasped for breath, and Jiyong was almost tempted to leave his penis long enough to lick up Seunghyun’s neck and throat, but he didn’t. He slid his mouth up and down until his spit dripped down, and he took his finger out of Seunghyun’s anus long enough to coat his finger in it, and then slide it back into his rear passage. 

There was no resistance for that one single digit, and Jiyong found the little almond bump inside his lover’s body and rubbed his finger over it. 

Seunghyun was making loud noises now, more turned on than Jiyong had ever seen him. He smiled, happy that his lover was pleased, and then rubbed the bump slightly harder. Seunghyun exploded inside Jiyong’s mouth, and he had to swallow quickly to take the salty discharge down his throat before it gagged him. He licked up the bits he had missed, and then got up to get a wet washcloth from the bathroom to clean his lover up.

“I think I like you being all helpless too much,” Jiyong said, smiling while he wiped up the remnants of their love making.

Seunghyun smiled, even though he had yet to open his eyes. “I like it, too,” he said, sleepily. “Give me a minute and I’ll take care of you, too.”

“Nope,” Jiyong said. “You’re going to have to dream about me taking care of myself in the shower. I know you’re too tired after walking all those stairs today. Plus what I just did, combined with your pain medication, should knock you out…” 

Seunghyun was already fast asleep. Jiyong smiled before he went to the shower, where he took care of himself by thinking of the face Seunghyun had just made. He went back into their bedroom and pulled on a pair of pajamas, moved the chair in case Wink needed to climb into bed with her daddy and papa, and then curled up next to the love of his life. “I love you,” he whispered, before he closed his eyes and fell asleep.


End file.
